Logistics firms advised to improve competitiveness

Vietnamese logistics firms have been advised to work harder to enhance their productivity, service quality and competitiveness amid current difficulties due to global economic instability.

Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) said that this year, the logistics sector has seen great improvements, including the completion of a legal framework in the field.

At the same time, the system of ports, warehouses and delivery serving import-export activities has upgraded and expanded.

However, Hai said that domestic logistics firms have still faced limitation in both capital and human resources scale as well as experience in international operations, while their linkage has remained poor. But they still have many advantages compared to their foreign rivals thanks to the ownership of infrastructure and assets serving logistics activities as well as understanding of the business habits of local customers, Hai underlined.

He stressed the need for Vietnamese logistics business to renovate themselves and change their business model towards the green direction, thus enhancing their competitiveness and ensuring their sustainable development.

This year, the World Bank (WB) has placed Vietnam in the 43rd position out of 139 economies in terms of Logistics Performance Index (LPI), up from the 53rd position in 2010. In the region, Vietnam is among five leading countries in the field together with the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Vietnam has also been ranked in the top 10 places in the 2023 Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index compiled by Agility, one of the world’s top freight forwarding and contract logistics providers. Particularly, Vietnam came fourth in the world in terms of international logistics opportunities, and was considered the country with highest potential for logistics development in Southeast Asia.

The Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang said that in the coming time, the ministry will continue to coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to collect requests and proposals from localities, associations and businesses in the logistics sector inside and outside the country and submit a report to the Government and the Prime Minister to ask for adjustments, supplementation and completion of relevant mechanisms, policies and regulations, thus creating a favourable legal corridor for the domestic logistics sector to renovate and develop in a fast and sustainable manner.