Saigon New Port sees 2007 revenue up 22 pct

By Ho Binh Minh

HANOI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Saigon New Port Company, Vietnam's largest container port operator, expects revenue to jump 22 percent this year to $98 million as it expands cargo handling capacity, a company official said on Wednesday.

The unlisted, Ho Chi Minh City-based firm, which is owned by the navy, expected to handle 1.8 million twenty foot equivalent units (TEU) this year, 22 percent up from 2006, said Tran Khanh Hoang, head of the Marketing & External Relations Department.

"We expect revenue growth this year to be similar to the growth of our cargo handling of 22 percent," Hoang told an internation conference on Vietnam's ports and logistics in Hanoi.

Vietnam's economy is growing at a robust 8 percent a year, putting pressure on port operators to expand and upgrade.

Revenue reached 1.3 trillion dong ($80.4 million) in 2006, when the firm handled 42 percent of Vietnam's cargo, he said.

Container volume growth of 19.8 percent per year in 1995-2006 would accelerate to 25 percent in coming years, industry experts said at the conference.

Public information about Vietnam's military-run companies is still rare, but expanding services such as the telecoms and shipping industries have revealed some details about businesses controlled by the Defence Ministry.

Military-run Viettel, a major telecoms player, said it will help form a bank and a hydro-power construction firm in Cambodia.