REDUCING LOGISTICS COSTS, INCREASING VALUE ADDED THROUGH THE PORT SYSTEM

By baotintuc.vn - 18/09/2026

According to Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, General Director of Portcoast, port competitiveness should be driven by operational productivity, schedule reliability, and the quality of hinterland services. Digitalizing logistics chains, strengthening cooperation among terminals, and switching to electric equipment are key solutions. Integrating ports, logistics, and free trade zones into a unified ecosystem will help reduce costs while retaining more value added within the economy.

Optimizing supply chains

With its extensive system of international gateway ports and transoceanic shipping routes, Ho Chi Minh City and the southern economic growth region have an opportunity to participate more deeply in global supply chains.

Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW, dated July 28, 2026, of the 14th Party Central Committee on building and developing Vietnam into a strong maritime nation sets a target of reducing national logistics costs to below 12% of GDP by 2030. The resolution also calls for the development of a modern maritime economy based on science and technology, innovation and digital transformation.

In recent years, Ho Chi Minh City has continued to affirm its position as the country’s principal trade gateway. According to the Ho Chi Minh City Maritime Administration, total cargo throughput at the city’s seaports reached 351.6 million tonnes in 2025, including more than 14 million TEUs of container cargo. The region has now established 138 international container routes connecting directly to global markets.

Despite substantial progress in infrastructure and maritime connectivity, the Vietnam Logistics Report 2025, cited at the conference “Discussing Solutions to Reduce Logistics Costs to Promote Exports” held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on September 22, estimates the country’s logistics costs at approximately 16–17% of GDP. This is high compared with the global average of around 12%, increasing the cost burden on businesses and weakening national competitiveness. In addition, supply chains passing through seaports remain exposed to risks from geopolitical volatility, natural disasters, epidemics and peak cargo periods.

Analyzing these challenges, Pham Anh Tuan, General Director of Portcoast Consultant Corporation, said that, from the perspective of port businesses, ports can no longer rely on low cargo-handling charges to remain competitive. They must shift decisively toward operational productivity, service schedule reliability, the quality of hinterland services, investment in digitalizing logistics chains, alliances and cooperation among terminals and port clusters, and a transition from fossil-fuel-powered equipment to electric equipment.

These shifts also bring together the mutually reinforcing objectives of reducing logistics costs and developing “green ports”, meeting stringent environmental requirements in the European Union (EU) and the United States while fulfilling the Net Zero commitment made by the Vietnamese Government.

In Ho Chi Minh City, alongside efforts to develop “green ports”, port businesses are actively optimizing processes and digitalizing management through systems such as TOS, e-Ports and ERP. These measures aim to reduce vessel waiting times, empty vehicle trips, repeated container rehandling and emissions.

The city is also accelerating the completion of transport infrastructure connecting different regions, including expressways, ring roads and inland waterways. This enables businesses to combine a shift from road transport to inland waterway transport with better planning of cargo flows. According to many port businesses in the Cai Mep–Thi Vai area, these are key solutions for reducing costs throughout the entire cargo transport chain.

Building a high-value-added ecosystem

According to experts, cost reductions help cargo move faster, but the amount of value added retained domestically is the fundamental measure of the maturity of the maritime economy.

Vietnam’s maritime services currently remain concentrated largely in low-value-added activities such as cargo handling and basic storage. Shifting from a focus solely on infrastructure operation to developing a port ecosystem linked to industry, services and trade is therefore a breakthrough that requires the strategic approach set out in Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW.

In Ho Chi Minh City, this integration is being realized through the policy of developing free trade zones (FTZs) linked to maritime gateways, economic corridors and rail logistics hubs. The maritime gateway component includes the Can Gio FTZ, with the immediate focus on the Cai Mep Ha FTZ connected to the surrounding network of port cities. Smart logistics infrastructure, automated warehouses, data centers and an international financial and commercial ecosystem are being planned in a coordinated manner.

Under this model, cargo passing through ports is not simply transshipped: it is processed, packaged, distributed and involved in international trade transactions within a single integrated economic space. In addition, a digitally enabled “single-window, one-stop” model, supported by AI, Big Data and Blockchain, promises to minimize customs clearance times.

Outlining the vision for this new economic space at the seminar “Creating Tan Phuoc Smart Port City – The Core of the Cai Mep Ha Free Trade Zone”, held on August 21, Nguyen Cong Vinh, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, affirmed that a smart port city must bring together and enable effective interaction among flows of goods, capital, data and technology, as well as a high-quality workforce. Only by activating this convergence can it generate economic value many times greater than that of port infrastructure alone.

At the seminar, experts also advised local authorities to avoid the “low-value-added trap” resulting from insufficiently selective, scattered investment in basic container yards, isolated port terminals or land-intensive logistics facilities that create little new value.

When all the links, from port infrastructure and logistics chains to free trade zones, operate fully within a unified ecosystem, the effectiveness of Ho Chi Minh City’s port hub and national competitiveness will no longer be measured solely by the millions of tonnes or TEUs passing through ports. They will also be quantified by the lowest achievable logistics costs and the maximum value added retained within the economy.

These strategic steps are helping Ho Chi Minh City and the southern growth region transform infrastructure advantages into a self-reliant maritime economy, making a practical contribution to Vietnam’s aspiration to rise as a strong maritime nation.

Doan Manh Duong/VNA