Experts have called for the development of the country’s logistics and maritime services to make the economy more competitive and boost global integration.

Arranging transport of goods, organising supply chains and the flow of business information to enable the manufacture, assembly and distribution of goods were poor in Viet Nam, stake-holders admitted at a recent forum held last week in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.

The meeting was held by the National Committee on Inter-national Economic Co-operation and the EU- Viet Nam Multilateral Trade Assistance Project, MUTRAP III.

Ill-planned logistics infrastructure and the lack of professional human resources are among the causes of the low quality of logistics and maritime services in major port cities like HCM City, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Da Nang and Hai Phong.

These weaknesses should be addressed soon to enable the sector to develop since it had great significance for economic integration, they said.

Nguyen Tuong, a senior expert with the Ministry of Transport, said since the country was at the first stage of logistics development, its infrastructure was poor, there was a lack of competition among service providers, and their services were limited.

Zan Tomczyk, MUTRAP III’s senior expert, said quality and price competitiveness in trade logistics services like transport, warehousing, distribution, information technology and maritime services were correlated to the country’s competitiveness.

“Developing economies need proactive trade logistics strategies to attract trade logistics services that will allow them to expand and incorporate the need for supply chain security demands by trading partners,” he said.

The integration of logistics services would help economic development and also serve as a driver for poverty reduction, he added.

Dr Aloysius Lim, a Singa-porean logistics consultant, said any strategy for developing logistics and maritime services should factor in commitments from the government and the private sector, the capacity of service providers, and manpower development and training capabilities.

The government should have economic focus, build infrastructure, and draft schemes to develop logistics, he said.

Nguyen Hung, deputy general secretary of the Viet Nam Freight Forwarders Association, said the logistics sector was plagued by poor management, lack of co-operation and price conflicts between operators, and low capability.

Delegates agreed that Viet Nam had a great chance to develop its logistics industry, with the key elements being infrastructure and human resources.

Though the lack of quality manpower is a big hindrance to the development of the industry, there has not been much investment in the development of human resources.

Dr Mai Xuan Thieu, general director of the Viet Nam Institute of Logistics, pointed out that no university in the country had a logistics faculty.

“We have no policy to develop human resources for the sector, no trainers in the field, and no background we can base on to build a training programme for logistics,” he said.

The logistics industry was in need of competent human resources, he said, including service providers with thorough knowledge of logistics, user awareness of the benefits accruing from logistics, and administrators who can draft appropriate policies and regulations.

Lim said there were several ways to develop human resources for the sector, including co-operation in training between the Government and businesses, and training programmes set up using funds raised by maritime service associations.

Thieu called on the Government to provide support for logistics training.

Source: VNS