Hanoi (VNA) - VietnamNational Shipping Lines (Vinalines) has developed scenarios under whichthey would restructure resources and reduce costs in a bid to cope with marketdifficulties amid negative impacts from the COVID-19 outbreaks, especially inthe Chinese market.

It would also promotemarketing activities in the less affected markets, such as Europe andother Southeast Asian countries, a Vinalines representative told local media.

Vinalines estimated itwould lose 992 billion VND (42.6 million USD) in seaport-related revenueand 224 billion VND (9.6 million USD) in profit in the first two quarters of2020 because of the COVID-19 epidemic.

The firm calculated that sealogistics revenue would fall by 600 billion VND (25.8 million USD)

In the first six months of theyear, seaport output is estimated to fall by nearly 19 million tonnes.

With the debts the firm’sshipbuilding sector is currently owing, the poor business result would make therepayment of principal and interest an extremely difficult task, said therepresentative.

According to the representativeof Vinalines, it has asked the Government, ministries and departments tosupport enterprises with better tax policies, as well as called banks to reducelending interest rates and reschedule debts to help overcome the difficulties.

Earlier this month, the firmsaid it aimed to handle more than 108 million tonnes of goods viaports, up 1.9 percent from last year./.