The Ministry of Construction has just issued Circular No. 41/2025/TT-BXD dated November 28, 2025, stipulating the authority and procedures for granting domestic maritime transport licenses to foreign vessels.
Accordingly, the Circular consists of 3 Chapters and 15 Articles regulating the authority and procedures for granting domestic maritime transport licenses to foreign vessels.
This Circular applies to Vietnamese organizations and individuals, as well as foreign organizations and individuals involved in domestic maritime transport by foreign vessels.
The circular clearly stipulates the authority to issue and the validity period of domestic maritime transport licenses; the procedures for issuing and revoking domestic maritime transport licenses for foreign vessels in the following cases: transporting oversized or overweight cargo or other types of cargo by specialized vessels; clearing cargo, passengers, and luggage stuck at ports; disaster prevention and mitigation, epidemic control, or emergency humanitarian relief; transporting passengers and luggage from cruise ships to the mainland; and revocation of domestic maritime transport licenses.
This Circular shall take effect from February 1, 2026. Circular No. 50/2016/TT-BGTVT dated December 30, 2016 of the Minister of Transport stipulating the procedures for granting domestic maritime transport licenses to foreign vessels and Article 2 of Circular No. 08/2022/TT-BGTVT dated June 16, 2022 of the Minister of Transport amending and supplementing eight articles of the Circulars regulating business activities in the maritime and inland waterway sector are hereby repealed from the effective date of this Circular.
Applications for domestic maritime transport licenses that were received by competent authorities before the effective date of this Circular shall continue to be processed according to the provisions of law in effect at the time of receipt.
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