Illustrative image (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam’s logistics service industry is preparinginfrastructure and techniques to grasp opportunities from the Europe-VietnamFree Trade Agreement (EVFTA) to attract foreign investors with a wave offactories.
Insiders predict that the agreement would be a lever for Vietnam to receiveforeign direct investment (FDI) capital sources from European countries,bringing many advantages for the local logistics service in the future.
Many businesses have been developing and expanding industrial parks in citiesand provinces nationwide, including HCM City, the southern provinces of BinhDuong, Long An, Dong Nai and Ba Ria – Vung Tau and northern localities.
Vietnam’s industrial real estate market has become busy with the increase ofland lease contracts and factories concentrated in industrial parks andprovinces with deep-water seaports across the country. Therefore, this increasewill lead to a greater supply of logistics transport services in the country.
Experts said that this is understandable because manufacturing enterprises arestill leaving China due to the impact from COVID-19, as well as trade conflictswith the US and manufacturers' strategies to minimise reliance on one market.This gives Vietnam an opportunity to become a new global production hub and anessential foundation for the strong development of logistics services.
In this trend, authorities in the central province of Ha Tinh have recentlyapproved a plan for logistics centre development and Son Duong Port service at VungAng Economic Zone.
The 159ha logistics centre is located behind Son Duong Port to become animportant link in the supply chain connecting the Son Duong-Vung Ang portcomplex with other areas. This location is not only a key logistics centre ofthe province, but also a hub in the central region connecting with theEast-West Economic Corridor and serving international trade activities.
Meanwhile, the major city of Hai Phong, the largest import and export gatewayto the northern region of Vietnam, has also conducted planning on a logisticsservice system in the city. In 2019, cargo transported via this port reachednearly 130 million tonnes.
Authorities in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau early this week rolledout a plan to spend 20 trillion VND (850 million USD) from now through 2025 oninfrastructure to achieve their goal of comprehensive development. In which ithas a master plan including 69 ports, of which 48 are operational with a capacityof more than 141 million tonnes a year. The total area of the specialisedwarehousing in the plan is 2,312ha, and the current availability is around224ha.
According to Bu Le Anh Hieu, Marketing Director of Long Hau Joint StockCompany, which is the owner of Long Hau Industrial Park (IP) in the southernprovince of Long An, the demand of warehouses will sharply increase after theEVFTA comes into effect.
“The Long Hau IP has attracted many businesses building warehouses, and all hasbeen operating well. We have earmarked a large area in the Long Hau IP 3 towait for foreign investors after the EVFTA,” Hieu said.
“Recently, we received a lot of attention from investors in building coldstorage and warehouses, so the EVFTA will likely cause a shortage of warehousesin the future,” he added.
Marko Walde, Chief Representative of the German Chamber of Commerce andIndustry in Vietnam (AHK Vietnam), said Vietnam is Germany's second largesttrading partner in Asia with more than 4,000 German businesses exporting tothis country. However, in order to promote the attraction of FDI from Europe,one of the important factors is to prepare high quality labour force andskilled workers for manufacturing and logistics.
He said this is also a big challenge for Vietnam today when the number ofhigh-quality workers is not sufficient to meet the actual needs. Vietnam needsto strengthen vocational training centres and courses to adapt to modernproduction lines that require expertise and skills.
Nguyen Tuong, Deputy General Secretary of Vietnam Logistics Association (VLA),said logistics enterprises currently lack technology manpower while foreignlogistics enterprises do not have advantages in warehousing.
“Therefore, to compete fairly at home, the Vietnamese logistics industry mustmake more efforts in administration and order management, especially with theGovernment’s support to have a specific roadmap for logistics reform,” Tuong said.
He also said that it’s needed to select a number of reputable businesses inshipping and logistics services, who will receive the Government’s specificpolicies to set up a long-term strategy such as tax, interest rate reductionand support for loans.
"The Government should call on other industries to support this industry.Along with that, it is necessary to develop railway transportation in logisticsactivities.”/.
VNA
