A strategic alliance between Toan Phat Irradiation Co., Ltd. (TPI), Kawanishi Warehouse Group and MOL Logistics (a member of Mitsui OSK Lines) has just been officially established, laying the foundation for Mekong Logistics Hub - an integrated cold logistics center, aiming to upgrade the entire agricultural and aquatic product supply chain in Vietnam.
The official signing event for this alliance took place in Ho Chi Minh City on the evening of September 18, just a few days after the Tay Ninh 2025 investment promotion conference, where logistics was identified as a key area, also the place to develop the Mekong Logistics Hub in the coming time.
Japanese businessmen visit Toan Phat's cold storage system (Photo: Huong Giang)
From irradiation to integrated logistics
Mr. Vuong Hieu - Chairman and General Director of Toan Phat Irradiation Company Limited - said that Toan Phat is one of the very few enterprises in Vietnam licensed to invest in irradiation plants serving fruits, agricultural products and food. This advantage helps enterprises shorten the distance to meet the standards of demanding markets such as the US, Australia, and New Zealand.
According to Mr. Vuong Hieu, the cooperation with Japanese partners will create a closed ecosystem from processing, packaging, cold storage, container booking, shipping lines, to departure and arrival ports around the world . “This will help agricultural export enterprises significantly reduce time, transportation costs, storage, ship booking, etc.
At the same time, thanks to the global scale of Japanese corporations, Vietnamese goods will be given priority in scheduling transportation and loading and unloading at strategic ports that they are cooperating with. Thanks to that, businesses will no longer face the situation of lacking empty containers or having shipping prices pushed up too high like in previous years," Mr. Hieu shared on the sidelines of the event.
Kawanishi Warehouse - a century-old Japanese logistics company - brings cold storage operations expertise and dual Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) certification experience in Japan.
Mr. Jiro Kawanishi - President and CEO of Kawanishi Warehouse - said that over the past 100 years, the company has established offices at many important gateways in the global trade network such as: Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, San Francisco and Jakarta. The company also has experience in cold storage business since 1931.
“The cooperation with Toan Phat is completely in line with the company's development orientation and strengths. It will strengthen the connection of Vietnamese goods with the global market, bringing the Mekong Logistics Hub alliance to the world,” said Mr. Jiro Kawanishi.
Workers are operating inside the Toan Phat irradiation plant in Tay Ninh (Photo: Huong Giang)
Removing bottlenecks for agricultural exports
Meanwhile, Mr. Osamu Sakurada, Chairman and General Director of MOL Logistics, said that MOL Logistics is a member of Mitsui OSK Lines, currently having 138 offices in 26 countries. MOL will connect Toan Phat's system with the global transportation network, taking advantage of the strengths of seaports that the group is investing in cooperation with such as TCIT (Cai Mep) and HICT ( Hai Phong ).
“Connecting Vietnam’s irradiation and cold storage chain with the global cold storage system will upgrade the entire logistics infrastructure, bringing peace of mind and optimal service quality to customers in Vietnam as well as internationally.”
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Mekong Delta currently accounts for about 50% of the country's cold storage capacity, but the cold logistics system is still lacking in synchronization, causing high logistics costs and reducing the competitiveness of agricultural exports.
In the context of Vietnam aiming to achieve 65 billion USD in agricultural, forestry and fishery export turnover by 2025, Mekong Logistics Hub is expected to remove the long-standing "bottleneck" of the industry. The integration of irradiation - cold storage - global transportation helps Vietnamese goods shorten the export distance, reduce post-harvest losses, meet strict standards and enhance the brand on the world map.
ASEAN Cold Cargo Transshipment Hub
Mr. Vuong Hieu shared that the goal of this cooperation is to make Mekong Logistics Hub an important cold goods transit center of ASEAN.
This M&A deal not only brings Japanese capital to Vietnam, but also transfers technology, international standards and the right to connect to the global logistics network.
In the context of increasingly urgent cold logistics needs, the Mekong Logistics Hub alliance is expected to become a strategic boost, bringing Vietnamese agriculture and aquaculture a big step forward on the journey of deep integration with the global supply chain.
Recently, the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City also held a conference to listen to opinions from businesses and experts to discuss solutions to reduce logistics costs in the Ho Chi Minh City area, which currently accounts for 17% of production costs, a burden on businesses and the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/2-tap-doan-nhat-ban-dau-tu-vao-logistics-go-nut-that-cho-nong-san-viet-20250919081833290.htm
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