Registering a Tân Cảng Hải Phòng (HICT) ePort account

TC-HICT is a Saigon Newport terminal, so the account mechanics are identical to Cát Lái: the same ePort platform, the same corporate application to Saigon Newport. That is written out in full on the Cát Lái guide and is not repeated here — read the registration section there first, then come back for what only Lạch Huyện has.

The first difference is the address. HICT runs its own ePort deployment, holding its own yard data and carrying its own interchange-receipt templates per operation type — export drop-off, import delivery, empty return, empty pick-up. Knowing which operation you are performing is what lets you find the right form; this is not a formality but how the system files the work.

The second difference matters much more, and it is what trips up people used to working in the south: at HICT an ePort account alone is not enough. The truck side has to be enrolled separately. TC-HICT operates an automated gate and requires the driver to receive the job through its driver app before arriving at the terminal, with a matching dispatch app for the haulier's planners. Those are two distinct registrations: the company handles documents on ePort, the fleet handles jobs in the app.

The practical consequence: if you hire trucks in, ask the haulier directly whether they are already on HICT's app before you give them the job. A truck with perfect paperwork whose driver has no job in the app is a wasted trip.

Container & yard status lookup

The lookup itself works like the rest of the ePort family: by container number, and by vessel and voyage within a window around today. What is worth saying about HICT is not the method but the scope.

The HICT deployment answers only for the Lạch Huyện yard. The Hải Phòng cluster contains many terminals under many operators along the Cấm river and at Đình Vũ, each with its own electronic portal. A blank result at HICT usually does not mean the box has vanished — it means you are searching the wrong terminal. This mistake is far more common in the north than in the south, simply because there are more terminals and the names run together.

Establish the terminal before you search: take its name from the carrier's delivery order or the arrival notice rather than assuming out of habit. The same carrier may call at Lạch Huyện on one voyage and at a river terminal on the next, depending on vessel size.

One Lạch Huyện-specific note: TC-HICT handles international transshipment. As at other deep-water terminals, a box in the yard is not necessarily an import into Vietnam — establish the shipment's track before planning formalities.

Payment and getting the EIR

The payment and electronic-receipt chain at HICT is the Saigon Newport ePort chain — carrier order into the terminal system, delivery registration, online payment, e-invoice, then the electronic receipt. That chain is written out in full on the Cát Lái guide. Only two things differ here.

The first, and the single most important point on this page: at HICT the electronic interchange receipt does not by itself get the truck through the gate. The automated gate runs off the job pushed down to the driver's app. The driver has to receive the job in the app before arriving and only then start the operation, and export drop-off is the operation the automated gate was applied to first. Correct paperwork with no job on the truck still means turning around. Put another way, at HICT two ends have to meet: the document end on ePort and the dispatch end in the app.

The second difference is the obligation to the city. Hải Phòng levies a fee for use of infrastructure in the seaport border area, paid through the city's own system and separate from the terminal's service charges. This is a real regional difference between cargo routed via Lạch Huyện and cargo routed through some southern ports, and it is the item southern shippers most often forget on their first northern shipment. The rate and scope are set by the city council and have been revised repeatedly, so look up what is currently in force rather than working from a figure someone quoted you.

Cut-off times & operational notes

Lạch Huyện is the north's first deep-water terminal able to take mother vessels calling direct, unlike the river terminals at Hải Phòng constrained by the channel and by bridge clearance. What that means in practice: these are large ships on weekly rotations, so missing a closing usually means waiting for that string's next call rather than catching tomorrow's feeder as you might at a river berth.

The road connection is the most distinctive feature and the largest schedule risk. The terminal sits on Cát Hải island, linked to the mainland by the Tân Vũ — Lạch Huyện sea-crossing bridge. That is the single road artery, and the run out from the northern industrial parks is considerably longer than the run to a river berth. Plan the truck leg on the real distance, not on habits formed around "the port of Hải Phòng".

Lạch Huyện draws cargo from across the northern industrial belt rather than from a ring around the terminal the way Cát Lái does. Long legs, few chances of a same-day turn, and a much higher cost per wasted trip — which is exactly why the automated gate and the driver app here are not a formality but an economic mechanism: they exist so that trucks do not discover a missing condition after making the journey.

Operationally, keep three deadlines separate instead of merging them: the carrier's closing for that voyage, the terminal's yard cut, and your own transport cut-off. At Lạch Huyện the third is the one you actually have to hit, because it absorbs both the bridge leg and dispatch time.

Common issues

"The truck was turned away even though the paperwork was complete" — the signature HICT problem. Check the truck side first: has the driver accepted the job in the app, is the haulier enrolled on the dispatch system, and does the job match the operation being performed. At terminals without an automated gate none of this exists, which is why southern shippers making their first northern shipment do not think to look.

"The container returns nothing at HICT" — before concluding the system is broken, confirm the box is actually routed to Lạch Huyện and not to a river terminal at Hải Phòng. Take the terminal name from the delivery order or the arrival notice. The northern cluster has many terminals, and this is the leading cause of a blank result.

"The declaration cleared but the terminal will not release" — check that the storage-location code on the declaration names TC-HICT. Declaring against another terminal in the Hải Phòng cluster is a frequent error; the code list is published by the customs authority and has changed across reorganisations, so look it up fresh rather than copying an old declaration.

"The invoice has the wrong name or address" — a consequence of the administrative reorganisation, which affected both the Cát Hải area's address and that of many companies. Saigon Newport has asked customers to re-check name and address before paying; fixing the account file beforehand is cheaper than amending an invoice.

The Cát Lái diagnostic rule still applies, with one extra layer: the carrier controls release, customs controls the declaration, ePort is where the two meet — and at HICT there is a fourth layer, the dispatch job. Work out which layer is blocking before you call.