The secretary general of the association, Ho Kim Lan, said on the sidelines of an annual conference of the association last Friday that cargo throughput at the ports had dipped as consumption in many importing markets had slackened. Many producers of textiles, garments, leather footwear and woodwork – which are among the country’s top export earners – have faced difficulties in production given economic contraction at home and abroad. “Numerous ports which are operating below capacity have seen slowing growth in cargo throughput,” he said. “The fees collected from cargo storage and loading services are also down as the ports are competing with one another.” Saigon Newport still managed to maintain good operations as its throughput in the first half represented some 48% of all of 2010 but Saigon port, Ben Nghe port, and the vegetable port reported their throughput accounted for 42%, 36%, and 32% of the whole 2010 respectively.