Hello and welcome to VOV’s Letter Box, a weekly feature dedicated to our listeners around the world. We are Kim Chi and Nhat Quynh.

A: First, we’d like to welcome Toshiki Tsuboi to our English broadcasts on the Voice of Vietnam. We appreciate your report on our broadcast on March 5 from 11:30 to 11:36 UTC on the frequency of 9840 khz. We’ll send you a QSL card to confirm your report as well as our program schedule and frequency list. We look forward to hearing more from you.

B: Next, we’d like to thank Gerry Newmann for his great gift, a book of English culture and traditions throughout the year. We like the book every much, Gerry. It’s a great help to us, especially Thu Ly and other reporters involved in producing our Culture Rendezvous segment. We thank you very much for the gift and we hope to meet you again soon.

A present from VOV's shortwave listener: Gerry Newmann of the UK

A:  We’d like to welcome back to our show John Rutledge of the US who now lives in China. It’s been a long time since we last heard from him. Mr. Rutledge wrote: “Thank you for your broadcasts. I still enjoy them and listen on a regular basis. I’m now spending my vacation in southern China and, of course, listening to your station. The signal usually is much stronger here than where I live. I wanted to visit Vietnam again for vacation, since I loved it during my September 2015 visit, but work visa problems prevented my trip this year. Maybe next year I’ll come and experience Tet in Vietnam”.

B: John Rutledge was the winner of our contest “What do you know about Vietnam” in 2015 and he won a tour of Vietnam that year. John, it’s great to hear from you again. We hope to see you again soon. If you decide to visit Vietnam during Tet, you are advised to book everything in advance because Vietnamese people enjoy a long holiday during Tet and not all services are available. But spring is a great time to visit Vietnam. We are certain you’ll have a great time during our biggest festival of the year. By the way, we’ll send you QSL cards to confirm your reception reports.

A: After listening to our broadcast on February 15 on the frequency of 9550 from 16:00 to 16:20, Li Ming of China wrote: “Happy New Year! Very glad to write to you. I’m a listener from Fujian, China. I’m interested in your VOV radio programs This is a new reception report on a VOV English program. I hope you find my reception report to be of some use”.

B: Thank you, Li Ming. We’ll confirm your report with our verification card. Muhammad Shamim of India listened to our program on March 1 on the frequency of 7220 and rated SINPO at 43434. He had a question about the largest port in Vietnam.

B: Tan Cang-Cat Lai port on the bank of the Dong Nai river is a biggest and most modern container port in Vietnam. Cat Lai Port is linked to National Highway No.1, and other major transport routes. Along these highways, goods are trucked quickly and conveniently from Cat Lai Port to key economic areas - Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Long An, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and the Mekong Delta provinces.

Cat Lai port

A: Tan Cang–Cat Lai port covers 800,000 square meters and contains eight berths, including two barge quays, with a total length of more than 1km. It contains 17 cranes to support the fast and efficient transfer of cargoes. It is 43 nautical miles from the pilot station at Vung Tau.

B: Water depth at the port is 12 meters, and the berths can handle six vessels with a capacity of up to two thousand TEUs at one time. Tidal variation at the terminal is 2.8 meters. Each month, this terminal handles over 170 vessels from around the world and has an average throughput of 160,000 TEUs.

A: It was the first facility in Vietnam to establish a Free Port Zone. The Free Port Zone offers a variety of services that include handling of goods; maritime and trading assistance; packaging, repackaging, stowing, and re-stowing of goods; and repair, replacement, and maintenance of containers.

A: Speaking of Vietnam’s ports, we also want to mention Cam Ranh International Port in Khanh Hoa province - a destination on the East Sea maritime route which is striving to be the biggest and most modern sea port in Vietnam.

B: Since beginning operations last year, the port has received more than 20 ships, including 2 luxury cruise ships and 16 naval vessels from Singapore, Japan, France, Russia, India, China, and Australia. 

A: International cruise ship passengers have called at Cam Ranh Port and visited scenic spots in Nha Trang. According to Colonel Uong Xuan Phuc Son, director of the Tan Cang – Petro Cam Ranh Limited Company, the port will soon add incentives to attract more cargo vessels and cruise ships, and coordinate with tourist destinations in the province to create new tourist products.

Cam Ranh port

B: Cam Ranh International Port is targeted to become one of Vietnam’s leading deep-water ports on a par with the world’s biggest sea ports. The port has focused on bringing its management system up to international standards to attract foreign shipping lines.

A: Once its second phase is finished, which is expected by 2020, it will be the biggest port in Vietnam with a wharf that can receive ships of up to 110,000DWT. The port can receive 18 ships at the same time.

B: The port’s logistics service area is modern and big, including warehouses, private roads, a cargo loading area, and a sports center with a gym, swimming pool, football field, tennis courts and basketball courts. 

A: Cam Ranh International Seaport aims to be as Vietnam’s top deepwater seaport providing international maritime, logistics, and ship repair services.

B: Next is a letter from Peter Ng of Malaysia. Using a portable analogue “SONY ICF SW11” with a telescopic antenna he listened to our broadcast on February 6 on a frequency of 12020 and rated SINPO at all 4s and 5s.

A: Thank you, Peter, for your report. It has been a long time since we last received a reception report from you. We’ll confirm your report with a QSL card.

B: Kanchan Kr Chatterjee Murshidabad of India told us about Holi festival of the Hindus. He wrote: “The festival of colors and frolic is finally here. Holi is one of the world’s most enjoyable festivals but it also demands a lot of care and safety.”

A: We’ve watched some videos on the Holi festival of the Hindus. It looks really fun. In Vietnam, we have a lot of festivals throughout the year, but no festival like Holi. We look forward to learning more about Indian festivals.

B: We’d like to acknowledge letters and emails from Toshiya Nishimura of Japan, Richard Nowak of the US, Tim Breyel of Malaysia, Dewal Rafiql Islam and Abdur Razzak of Bangladesh, Hector Frias Jofre of Chile, Michael Cunningham of Australia, Ratan Kumar Paul and Atish Bhattacharya of India, Christopher Tyle of France, Richard Lemke of Canada, and Andrew Kuznetsov of Latvia.

A: We’ll send you QSL cards to confirm your reports. We welcome your feedback at English Section, VOVworld, Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Our email address is englishsection@vov.org.vn. Thank you for listening to VOV on shortwave and following us online. Good bye until next time.