Convenient location and strong investment plan
With a favorable geographical location on the Trans-Asia Highway and the Cai Mep - Thi Vai deep-water port system, which is classified as a special national port, acting as a gateway to the sea for the entire region, Ba Ria - Vung Tau is always considered one of the growth poles of the Southeast region.
Along with the synchronous and modern investment in the transportation system and continued development to form a multimodal transportation system; inter-regional connection between the Cai Mep - Thi Vai seaport system and Long Thanh international airport and the International Financial Center in Ho Chi Minh City... are favorable conditions for strong development of logistics in the coming time.
According to the provincial planning, by 2050, Ba Ria - Vung Tau will be the national maritime economic center; the maritime service center of Southeast Asia. In which, Cai Mep Ha will be a logistics center of national and international stature.
Mr. Nguyen Van Tho - Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - said that to implement the planning goals, the locality has identified the logistics industry as one of the four economic pillars. Currently, the province is urgently developing and submitting to the Government for approval important projects, aiming to promote the early formation of Cai Mep Ha Logistics Center, to carry out the activities of gathering, clearing customs and handling goods to support the Cai Mep - Thi Vai port area. These include: Project to develop Ba Ria - Vung Tau into a national marine economic center; Project to develop large-scale industrial - service - urban complexes in Phu My town; Project to continue developing and modernizing Cai Mep - Thi Vai international gateway port into the largest international transit port in the country, with regional and international stature; Project to study free trade zones associated with seaports in Cai Mep Ha area...
According to Mr. Pham Viet Thanh - Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, along with the development of Long Thanh International Airport, the modernization of Cai Mep - Thi Vai port cluster into a regional and world-class international transit port is a favorable condition for the locality to develop a national and international logistics center following the model of "green port, green logistics" to meet the requirements of international integration and sustainable development.
The establishment of a Free Trade Zone associated with a seaport will be a strategic step to complete the logistics infrastructure of the Southeast region; synchronously connecting with Long Thanh International Airport and Cai Mep - Thi Vai deep-water seaport. This will create an absolute competitive advantage, renew old motivations, create new motivations, attract investment in the service - industrial - urban space on the East-West economic corridor from Moc Bai - Cai Mep - Thi Vai.
Aiming to become a regional and national logistics center
Speaking at the Logistics Forum held in Ba Ria - Vung Tau in early December, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh - General Director of Gemadept Group - commented that the combination of the gateway seaport and the international airport is a great opportunity for Ba Ria - Vung Tau to become an important economic center in the region. The locality needs a free trade zone to take advantage of the opportunity and promote its existing potential.
“The implementation of a free trade zone in Ba Ria - Vung Tau will attract goods to the ports in the area, thereby contributing to diversifying logistics services; enhancing international transit and logistics capacity. This will accelerate the Cai Mep - Thi Vai port cluster to become an international transit center, increasing competitiveness with major ports in the region... At the same time, the connection with Long Thanh airport will create opportunities to form a Sea-Air Hub,” Mr. Binh emphasized.
According to the Vietnam Logistics 2024 report of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ba Ria - Vung Tau province has achieved quite good growth and implemented solutions and action programs to develop seaports and logistics services, but there are still many shortcomings and limitations.
The problem is that logistics infrastructure lacks large-scale, modern centers that provide a full range of integrated services. Port logistics and regional logistics services have not yet met the needs of businesses...
In addition, traffic connections are not really synchronized and effective. The regional traffic connection system is still lacking, as there is no railway and many key routes are still under construction. This greatly affects the flow of goods, creating a sense of apprehension among businesses. In particular, localities still lack investment capital, especially investment capital from the Central Government; as well as a lack of high-quality logistics human resources.
The report points out that, with its available potential, Ba Ria - Vung Tau can completely aim to become the leading logistics center of the region and the country in the near future, if it effectively exploits opportunities and solves challenges.
Regarding capital, the province can call for investment; build a public-private partnership (PPP) mechanism to attract domestic and foreign capital. As well as coordinate with units to train, improve capacity... to solve the shortage of high-quality logistics human resources.
Promote traffic connectivity by accelerating the completion of key projects, upgrading intra-regional routes; developing a railway line connecting to Cai Mep - Thi Vai, connecting to the national railway system...
