This morning we visited Cat Lai Terminal, an international container terminal operator and logistics provider. The company has three core businesses, including port operations with trucks, logistic services, and sea transports.Their headquarters are in Ho Chi Minh City and they have over 30 branches and subsidiaries as they are spread throughout Vietnam. They also have 17 container terminals ad 5 ICD’s that exist. While Cat Lai is under the Saigon Newport corporation, they strive for efficiency within the storage process. For example, instead of keeping track of each storage unit via pen and paper, Cat Lai in recent years has transitioned to a computer system saving much time and in turn, money.

There are two types of vessels that the company uses, mother and feeder vessels. Mother vessels are much larger and travel internationally and feeder vessels are used more locally. Because they Mekong River is the prime location of choice for barges and transportation of choice, the company only uses mother vessels to be most efficient. They use the Mekong River Delta for many routes because many goods are picked up in the delta and transported both in and out of the country.

After Cat Lai, we visited the reunification palace, located very closely to our hotel. The palace has the same sort of character as the White House. It’s where important government meetings take place and full of wonderful history for the public to see. Most of the palace isn’t used today but it is a museum for the history of Vietnam. In 1975 a tank from Northern Vietnam plowed through the main gate as part of signaling that the South was defeated. This palace, officially known as Independence Palace is not only a beautiful place on the outside has a rich history as well.