Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and leaders and delegates attending the Vietnam Logistics Forum 2024.

According to data from the General Statistics Office, in the first 9 months of 2024, the whole country had nearly 6,500 newly registered enterprises in the logistics sector (accounting for 5.33% of the total number of newly established enterprises nationwide) with a total registered capital of 36.55 trillion VND and a total registered number of nearly 28,900 employees, an increase of 13.5% in the number of enterprises, an increase of 18.3% in the number of employees, but a decrease of 11.3% in registered capital compared to the same period in 2023. Of which, the number of newly established enterprises in the transportation and warehousing sector was 6,503, an increase of 13.5% over the same period in 2023.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien delivered the opening speech at the Vietnam Logistics Forum 2024.

Also in the first 9 months of 2024, more than 86.9 thousand enterprises temporarily suspended business, up 14.7% over the same period last year, of which 4,519 transportation and warehousing enterprises had to temporarily suspend operations, up 10.2%. Nearly 13 thousand enterprises completed dissolution procedures, of which 490 transportation and warehousing enterprises, accounting for 3.79% of the total number of dissolved enterprises nationwide. In general, besides a number of logistics companies with stable and impressive growth, small and medium-sized logistics enterprises recorded a decline in business results, losses and even withdrew from the market.

Delegates attending the Vietnam Logistics Forum 2024 held in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.

Regarding the service provision capacity of enterprises: in 2023, according to the World Bank (WB) ranking, Vietnam's Logistics Performance Index (LPI) is ranked 43/139 ranked economies , a significant improvement compared to 53 in 2010. In the ASEAN region, Vietnam is in the top 5, with the same ranking as the Philippines and behind Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. If considering emerging markets, Vietnam is in the group of 10/50 emerging logistics markets in the world, according to the ranking of emerging market index of Agility Logistics and Transportation Services Provider. Among them, in terms of international logistics opportunities, Vietnam ranks 4th in the world and is considered a country with the leading logistics development potential in Southeast Asia. However, the logistics industry nationwide still has many limitations, not really commensurate with the conditions and development potential.

With the goal of becoming a destination providing many services for partners and customers (one-stop-service), increasing competitiveness, businesses in the industry are constantly improving service quality, increasing multimodal transport, strengthening alliances and links between carriers, and providing integrated logistics services.

Domestic shipping activities are greatly affected by the world shipping situation, causing freight rates to increase and change weekly, causing difficulties for many businesses. In just two months, from April to June 2024, shipping rates from ports in Ho Chi Minh City to the US and Europe increased by 300%, from 2,950 USD to 7,350 USD for each 40-foot container. Such rapid price fluctuations are due to the impact of factors such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the tense situation in the Red Sea, or the prolonged drought in the Panama Canal. From the above difficulties, transportation and logistics businesses have had to aim at optimizing multimodal transport, instead of a single method as before.

Speaking at the Forum, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien stated that in recent times, the Party and State of Vietnam have issued many mechanisms, policies and directed the effective implementation of solutions to remove difficulties, reduce costs, improve competitiveness, and create a favorable environment for the development of the logistics service industry.

With the attention and close and drastic direction of the Prime Minister; the active and effective participation of ministries, branches and localities; especially the outstanding efforts of the business community, our country's logistics service industry has made quite strong developments (an average increase of 14-16%/year), gradually affirming the brand and position of the Industry in the region and the world. In 2024, Vietnam will be evaluated and ranked by international organizations in the Top 10 emerging logistics markets; Top 4 in the world in the Logistics Opportunity Index and Top 43 in the Logistics Performance Index.

However, in addition to the achieved results, the development of Vietnam's logistics service industry has not been commensurate with the country's potential and advantages; logistics costs are still high, competitiveness is low; the shortage of human resources, especially high-quality human resources and lack of infrastructure connectivity are major "bottlenecks" that have hindered the development of logistics services in recent times.

In addition, geopolitical changes and new business trends (such as supply chain shifts, cross-border e-commerce, green and sustainable development standards) along with increasingly fierce strategic competition between major countries also pose many new challenges to the development of the economy in general and logistics services in particular.

Vietnam Logistics Forum is an annual event held since 2013 with the goal of promoting the development of logistics services, creating a connection between logistics and domestic production, trade and import-export industries.

After 11 times of organization, the Forum has become a prestigious brand, with topicality and profound practical significance; attracting the attention and high appreciation of Government leaders, departments, ministries, branches, localities, international organizations and industry associations, and the business community; is an opportunity for relevant parties to exchange and dialogue on current issues of the Industry and propose and recommend to competent authorities solutions to improve the business environment for this important service industry.

Speaking at the Forum, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stated that in recent times, our awareness of the role and position of logistics in the national economy has been increasing; the role and position of our country in the center of Asia-Pacific, very easy to develop into an international transit center; the Government is also gradually perfecting the institution for logistics development; infrastructure for logistics is invested, developing the road, air, inland waterway, and railway systems to reduce costs, increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods in the international market.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the Forum.

The Prime Minister was pleased with the rapid development of the logistics infrastructure system, especially the highway system, the urgent implementation of the North-South high-speed railway, railway lines connecting with China, Laos, etc.; and the development of the airport system. The Prime Minister also stated that it is necessary to exploit outer space, sea space, and underground space in the socio-economic development period of 2025-2030, these spaces will serve logistics as the basis.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stated that the airport system has developed relatively well in recent years, but the institutions to mobilize investment resources are still limited, so it is necessary to study and revise the regulations in the Law on Public-Private Partnership in various fields in the direction of expanding the scale and subjects to mobilize social and foreign resources. Recently, the number of enterprises in the logistics sector has been increasing, becoming modern and highly competitive; logistics development has a more positive trend, diversifying modes of transport, gradually reducing road transport; the logistics industry's development speed is among the highest in the world; there is a high-quality logistics workforce.

On behalf of the Government, the Prime Minister commended the Ministry of Industry and Trade, relevant ministries, sectors, enterprises and related entities for their contributions to creating a new look, new position and new results for the Vietnamese logistics industry. However, we see that there are still bottlenecks related to the development of the industry, which are awareness that is available but not yet reached, especially the role, position and importance of logistics, the position and role of the country in the transit of goods in the world; logistics costs are still high, accounting for about 17-18%; the scale of the logistics industry is still low compared to the scale of the economy (10% of GDP), compared to the world's logistics development requirements; human resources in state management of logistics are still lacking in quantity, weak and of good quality; logistics enterprises have not developed strongly, there is no mechanism for development; the connection between transport modes and warehouses is still lacking, especially inland warehouses (dry ports); logistics infrastructure is still backward,...

In the coming time, the Prime Minister stated that the scale of world trade is growing, Vietnam cannot help but integrate; it needs to be creative to fly high, innovate to reach far, integrate to develop; must follow world trends such as digital transformation, green transformation, circular economy, night-time economy, sharing economy... which have connections with logistics, so it is necessary to continue to innovate, integrate, and connect to develop. Vietnam must cooperate internationally, promote multilateralism, and call for connection to develop. When the situation changes, it is necessary to change thinking, methodology, and approach. There must be global, comprehensive, and all-people thinking; logistics is the means to do this. That is logistics in the overall picture of world issues. According to the Prime Minister, resources originate from thinking, motivation originates from innovation, and strength originates from the people.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested that innovation must always be done because practice always comes before theory; in the process of doing, we must always summarize and innovate; resources come from thinking, motivation comes from innovation, strength comes from the people; "institutions are the knot of knots", "breakthroughs of breakthroughs".

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested to reduce logistics costs in the country's GDP from 18% to 15% in 2025; increase the scale of logistics in GDP from 10% to 15%, striving to reach 20%; increase the scale of Vietnam's logistics in the world's logistics scale from 0.4% to 0.5%, striving to reach 0.6%; increase the growth rate of the logistics industry from 14-15% to 20%.

Raising awareness, position, and importance of logistics in the process of national development, we must understand more deeply the important role and position of the country in the center of Asia-Pacific to fully exploit the potential differences, outstanding opportunities, and competitive advantages in the world's logistics development chain; making breakthroughs in institutions, perfecting institutions so that the logistics industry can achieve 3 goals, contributing to the country achieving double-digit growth in the coming years, realizing the goal of a rising era of a rich and prosperous country. Institutions must be open to develop the logistics industry to match the development of the country, reducing costs for businesses: open policies, smooth infrastructure, smart management".

Building a smooth logistics infrastructure, reducing input costs, increasing product competitiveness; developing aviation, maritime, and high-speed railways; building smart governance and training high-quality human resources for the logistics industry, restructuring the logistics industry to suit development in the new context; promoting logistics diplomacy while modernizing domestic logistics; building and developing a free trade nation; closely connecting air, maritime, rail, inland waterway, and highway transport modes, connecting with the world's free trade zones, and connecting these modes of transport with the international transport system.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hopes that ministries and sectors, based on their duties, functions and powers, will perform well the above tasks; develop a national free trade development project; and build free trade zones at the border. We must protect independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, build an independent and free country; and build an environment of peace, cooperation and development.

The Prime Minister requested that localities must be self-reliant, self-reliant, self-governing, and proactive in the spirit of "locality decides, locality acts, locality is responsible"; the Central Government must decentralize and delegate power, along with resource allocation, and strengthen supervision and inspection. The Government must be creative, honest, and for the people, develop strategies, develop plans, development plans, institutions, mechanisms, and policies for development; create an environment for open investment development; develop resource mobilization mechanisms; and design monitoring and inspection tools.

The Prime Minister hopes that businesses and partners will enhance their autonomy; starting from reality, thereby contributing to building mechanisms and policies with the spirit of all for the common good, harmonizing the interests between the State, people, and businesses, properly resolving the relationship between the market and society; harmonizing benefits, sharing risks. With international friends, we must build good, independent, autonomous, diversified, multilateral relationships, be good friends, good partners, and trustworthy with all countries in the world.

According to nhandan.vn