Logistics News

Solution table to improve competitiveness for import and export goods

11 August 2023

Logistics is identified as an important service industry in the overall structure of the national economy, playing the role of supporting, connecting, and promoting the socio-economic development of the whole country as well as each locality to increase the competitiveness of the economy.

Over the past years, Vietnam’s logistics industry has made significant progress with an average speed of 14 – 16 %/year, with a scale of 40 – 42 billion USD/year. The number of businesses and the quality of logistics service business is increasing, making a significant contribution to bringing the result of import and export of goods to the highest level ever of 732.5 billion USD in 2022 – affirmed. Vietnam’s important position on the international trade map.

However, according to the assessment, the development of logistics services is currently not commensurate with the existing potential and development orientation. Investment in transport infrastructure and service infrastructure is slow and inconsistent, which is a “bottleneck” that makes the logistics industry not develop as expected,…

At the seminar “Customs accompanies enterprises to develop logistics activities to improve the competitiveness of import and export goods” held by Customs Magazine on the afternoon of August 10, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai – Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) pointed out the weaknesses that hinder the development of the logistics industry.

Specifically, according to Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, in recent years, investment in infrastructure has been quite large, there are new airports, new ports, etc., but it is still not completely synchronized. Besides, although the number of enterprises in this industry is very large, they are mainly small and medium enterprises, so they mainly can provide services within the border of Vietnam. In addition, human resources is the core key, but it is currently lagging behind other countries because of the lack of professional human resources, especially the middle management team. In addition, in terms of technology, despite being in the 4.0 era, the impact of technology on industries is clear, but the application of technology in this industry is not clear.

It is the above factors that have made logistics costs in Vietnam higher than many countries in the world (the world is currently only about 10.6% and Vietnam is about 16.8%). This limits the competitiveness and investment attractiveness of the economy. Therefore, reducing logistics costs becomes an urgent requirement of the economy…..

Not only that, representatives of many logistics enterprises added, on average, each container bears about 9 million VND in infrastructure costs. Enterprises are often forced by foreign shipping lines to have high prices but have no solution to deal with them. In addition, specialized inspection procedures overlap between many ministries, making customs clearance time longer, and causing many costs for businesses.

Therefore, to improve the export capacity of enterprises, it is necessary to reduce this cost to at least equal to the global cost. To be able to do this, many businesses believe that relevant authorities need to accelerate investment in the construction of modern airports and warehouse facilities to improve traffic capacity. and merchandise management. At the same time, increase investment in transport routes, including roads, railways, and waterways to improve freight transport capacity. In addition, it is necessary to create a favorable business environment for enterprises operating in the logistics sector, including reducing cumbersome legal regulations, reducing operating costs, and creating favorable conditions for enterprises. small and medium-sized enter the industry.