On 18th May, 1988, Ministry of Transport and Communications issued the Decision No. 1252/TCCB-LĐ on the establishment of Ho Chi Minh City In-service Training Center of Transport. One year later, on the basis of this, the Southern Center of Maritime Education was set up on 14th of January 1989 with its head office located in Ho Chi Minh City. (Decision No. 968/TCCB-LĐ on January 14th, 1989). In the first school year 1988 -1989, with 20 officials, lecturers, this Center enrolled 253 students in majors of Ship navigation, Marine Engineering, Ship electricity, Sea Transport Economics, Mechanization of Cargo Handling, Waterway and Offshore Construction, Ship building in all the levels of training. This set the foundation for the development of Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport.On August 20th, 1991, Ministry of Transport issued a decision No 1665/TCCB-LĐ on establishment of a branch of Vietnam Maritime University (VIMARU) that was in charge of training maritime officers.