Increase investment in logistics infrastructure, promote goods circulation

In recent years, Vietnam's logistics infrastructure has been increasingly improved, with the attention of investment and development from the Government, ministries, sectors and enterprises. In particular, newly built and expanded highways, airports, ports and logistics centers have contributed to improving cargo handling capacity, promoting fast and convenient cargo circulation.

Đầu tư mạnh hạ tầng logistics, thúc đẩy lưu thông hàng hóa

Vietnam's logistics infrastructure is increasingly improving.

Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that from 2022 to now, the logistics infrastructure system in general and the transport infrastructure in particular have been invested in and developed rapidly, promoting high efficiency; many large and modern projects have been put into operation.

Focusing on investment in developing transport infrastructure with focus and key points has contributed to the rational restructuring of the transport sector, ensuring harmonious connection of transport modes, promoting the strengths of each mode, reducing transport costs, improving the efficiency and quality of transport services, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of the economy.

According to statistics, the total length of roads in the country is currently about 595,201 km, of which national roads (national highways, expressways) are 25,560 km (an increase of 7.3% compared to 2017). Along with the improvement of infrastructure quality, the quality of road transport has been enhanced, significantly reducing travel time.

The expressway network has put into operation about 23 sections, equivalent to 1,239 km; about 14 routes and sections are under construction, equivalent to 840 km.

Expressways are invested in and built on the backbone traffic routes of the region, connecting inter-regions with the spreading power to meet the socio-economic development needs of each region and the whole country, creating conditions for connecting goods sources between localities and developing multimodal transport.

In the railway sector, there have been many efforts to maintain the infrastructure to improve safety and shorten train travel time. Railway density is about 9.5 km/1,000 ^km2 (the average of ASEAN and the world).

The national railway network has a total length of 3,143 km and 277 stations, including 2,703 km of main lines, 612 km of stations and branch lines, including 7 main lines: Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City (1,726 km), Gia Lam - Hai Phong (102 km), Hanoi - Dong Dang (167 km), Yen Vien - Lao Cai (296 km), Dong Anh - Quan Trieu (55 km), Kep - Luu Xa (56 km, not in operation), Kep - Ha Long - Cai Lan (128 km) and a number of branch lines connecting to urban areas and production facilities.

The railway network is connected to each other at the Hanoi hub, currently passing through the territory of 34 provinces and cities, including 4/6 economic regions of the country. There are currently 02 routes connecting to China at Dong Dang (Hanoi - Dong Dang intermodal route) and at Lao Cai (Hanoi - Lao Cai route).

The operating capacity on most major railway lines currently reaches about 17-25 pairs of trains/day and night, with an average operating speed of 50-70 km/h for passenger and freight trains. Railway passenger volume increased dramatically in the first 6 months of 2023 and transport revenue increased by 138.92% over the same period in 2022.

Regarding inland waterways, infrastructure capacity has been improved thanks to the focus on investment in upgrading and renovating a number of routes in the Northern Delta and Mekong Delta regions, and at the same time, with the putting into use a number of large, modern estuary, canal, and lock adjustment works and a number of container hub ports combined with dry ports in the South and North.

The total length of inland waterways under management and exploitation nationwide is 17,026 km. There are 45 main waterway routes planned on the network: 17 in the North, 10 in the Central, and 18 in the South. In addition, 21 river and sea routes have been planned (6 in the North, 4 in the Central, 11 in the South, and some routes sharing the same shipping lane). There are 292 inland waterway ports nationwide: 217 cargo ports, 12 passenger ports, 2 general ports, and 63 specialized ports. In addition, there are about 8,200 inland waterway wharves and more than 2,500 cross-river passenger wharves.

Currently, Vietnam is completing the Project "Improving container transport capacity on the Bac Ninh - Hai Phong inland waterway route" with the goal of developing container transport by inland waterway towards increasing the market share of inland waterway transport; building a plan for container transport routes from seaports in the Hai Phong - Hanoi, Lach Huyen - Ha Nam, Hung Yen areas.

Regarding the Vietnamese seaport system, there are currently 286 ports, distributed in 5 seaport groups, with a total wharf length of more than 96 km. The volume of goods passing through seaports in 2022 reached over 733 million tons, an increase of 4% compared to 2021.

In particular, gateway ports combined with international transit have been established in the North and South; successfully receiving container ships up to 132,000 DWT at Lach Huyen port area (Hai Phong), up to 214,000 DWT at Cai Mep port area (Ba Ria - Vung Tau).

Vietnam has established 32 routes, including 25 international routes and 7 domestic routes, in which, in addition to intra-Asian routes, the Northern region has exploited 2 routes to North America; the Southern region has formed 16 long-distance shipping routes to North America and Europe, surpassing Southeast Asian countries (after Malaysia and Singapore).

Most of the ports are associated with the centers and major economic regions of the country, forming large seaports with the role of hubs for import and export of goods and creating momentum for development of the whole region.

In the ranking of 100 container ports in 2022 with the largest cargo throughput in the world as announced by Lloyd's List Magazine (UK), Vietnam has 3 ports in this top: Lach Huyen (Hai Phong), Cat Lai (Ho Chi Minh City) and Cai Mep (Ba Ria - Vung Tau).

In addition, the transport sector is currently implementing the Project to develop Vietnam's maritime transport fleet; resolutely reviewing, cutting down, and simplifying administrative procedures, strongly applying information technology, and implementing the national single-window mechanism for 11 administrative procedures in the maritime sector at 22 maritime ports.

Regarding aviation, the country currently has 22 operating airports with a total area of about 11,859 hectares; including 9 international airports and 13 domestic airports. Of which, 7 airports are in the North. 07 airports are in the Central region and 08 airports are in the South.

Currently, there are 5 Vietnamese airlines: Vietnam Airlines (including VASCO), Vietjet Air, Pacific Airlines, Bamboo Airways and Vietravel Airlines operating combined cargo transportation on passenger flights and there is no airline specializing in transporting cargo by dedicated aircraft. Meanwhile, there are currently 29 foreign airlines operating cargo aircraft from 16 countries and territories to Vietnam.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Vietnam is currently ranked No. 1 in the list of 25 countries with the fastest recovering domestic aviation markets in the world. In the first 6 months of 2023, air transport activities basically met passenger demand.

Regarding logistics centers, the country currently has 69 large and medium-sized logistics centers, concentrated in a number of industrial parks. Class I and II logistics centers, specialized logistics centers according to the planning in Decision No. 1012/QD-TTg dated July 3, 2015 of the Prime Minister approving the Planning for the development of the logistics center system nationwide until 2020, with a vision to 2030, are being focused on by provinces and cities, calling for investment in construction.

Among them, there are many new generation logistics centers, applying 4.0 technology. Along with the increasing wave of e-commerce businesses with the need to rent premises for storage, goods classification, order fulfillment..., many businesses have grasped the trend, built and invested in warehouse systems, logistics centers with the function of providing transportation services, order fulfillment, distribution... in a professional, modern and high-quality direction.

Logistics infrastructure plays a very important role in the circulation of goods and impacts the supply chains of businesses. promote economic exchange between regions and countries. Therefore, investing in logistics infrastructure will help improve the capacity of the logistics system, improve the efficiency and quality of logistics services and increase added value. This will increase the competitiveness of businesses and countries, promoting economic growth.

In 2022, freight transport output will reach about 2,009 million tons, up 23.7% over the same period; freight turnover will reach about 441.3 billion tons/km, up 29.4% over the same period in 2021. In general, in the first 9 months of 2023, freight transport is estimated to reach 1,686.2 million tons of goods, up 14.6% over the same period last year and turnover will reach 359.8 billion tons/km, up 12.5%.

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