On the morning of May 13, 2024, the announcement ceremony of the fixed passenger transport route from Ho Chi Minh City to Con Dao and vice versa was held at Saigon - Hiep Phuoc Port Joint Stock Company. Attending this important event, on behalf of Ho Chi Minh City leaders, there were Mr. Nguyen Ho Hai - Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee; Mr. Bui Xuan Cuong - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee and leaders of other departments.

It is known that after a long preparation process, the Department of Transport and related agencies and units such as the Waterway Police, Border Guard, Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority, Vung Tau Maritime Port Authority, Saigon - Hiep Phuoc Port, Phu Quoc Express Boat Joint Stock Company have synchronously deployed many solutions on facilities and built plans for port exploitation when receiving passenger ships; on May 10, 2024, Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Port Authority issued a document approving the fixed passenger transport activities on the waterway transport route from shore to the island of Phu Quoc Express Boat Joint Stock Company.

According to Mr. Vu Van Khuong, Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Phu Quoc Expressway Joint Stock Company, the Company has cooperated with 189 LLC - Ministry of National Defense to build THANG LONG ship, call sign XVZT2, capacity: 1,017 seats in 2023, length 77m, GRT: 1,372. The ship has international standards with modern equipment, ensuring the highest standards of the world's maritime safety system.

According to the schedule, THANG LONG high-speed boat will run 03 trips/week, departing from Saigon - Hiep Phuoc Port (D3 road, Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park, Hiep Phuoc commune, Nha Be district, Ho Chi Minh City) at 07:00 and the destination is Ben Dam Port, Con Dao district, Ba Ria - Vung Tau province.

This passenger transport route was put into service on the occasion of the 134th anniversary of Uncle Ho's birthday (May 19, 1890 - May 19, 2024) and will contribute to enhancing the connectivity between Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces of the Southeast region. At the same time, it will help the city's residents have more choices when traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to Con Dao - an attractive tourist destination with sacred historical relics, associated with the heroic history of the nation's struggle.

Currently, tourists can travel to Con Dao from Ho Chi Minh City by two means of transportation. One is by air (about 50 minutes); the other is by car or speedboat from Ho Chi Minh City to Vung Tau, then from Ben Da port to Con Dao (about 4 hours).

When this passenger transport route is put into operation, people can travel directly from Saigon - Hiep Phuoc Port (Nha Be, Ho Chi Minh City) to Con Dao in about 3 hours 30 minutes to 4 hours in favorable weather conditions. The first trip will depart at 7:00 a.m. on May 15. The afternoon trip from Con Dao to Ho Chi Minh City departs at 1:00 p.m. from Ben Dam Port. Phu Quoc Expressway Joint Stock Company said that it will initially arrange a shuttle bus from September 23 Park (District 1) departing at 5:00 a.m. - 5:20 a.m. to Saigon - Hiep Phuoc Port. The ferry ticket price ranges from 615,000 VND - 1.1 million VND/trip depending on the passenger, ticket class and departure time.

According to Mr. Bui Hoa An - Deputy Director of the Department of Transport of Ho Chi Minh City, this will be a new choice, bringing a travel experience to people and tourists with the waterway route from Saigon Port - Hiep Phuoc in Nha Be district, through Soai Rap - Dong Tranh Bay - Bien Dong to Ben Dam Port in Con Dao. This passenger transport route, when put into operation, will meet the needs of travel, trade connection, passenger transport, tourism development between Ho Chi Minh City and Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, contributing to socio-economic development, regional connectivity and at the same time contributing to reducing the load, supporting passengers by air, especially during the time when Con Dao Airport is under construction and expansion.

Le Vuong Doan Tu