No further detailed information has been released, but opinions from well informed insiders say freighters were not ordered.

Freighters are considered a symbol of a well-developed aviation logistics industry. At present, cargo in Vietnam is carried by passenger aircraft and the volume of commercial goods transported per flight is very limited.

In Vietnam, the products transported by air include mobile phones, tablets, cosmetics, textiles & garments and some farm produce. Air transportation only undertakes a small proportion of total transported goods, but accounts for 25 percent of total export value.

Experts believe that in the coming year, aviation logistics will see robust growth thanks to the e-commerce boom.

The products bought online are mostly ones with small size and weight. Carrying many products in one single flight will reduce the transportation costs to the acceptable level, VND30,000-50,000 per item.

A report showed that the total volume of goods going the airports in Vietnam was 1.13 million tons in 2017 and the figure is expected to rise to 2.5 million tons.

Of 1.13 million tons of air cargo, 230,000 tons were domestically transported, while the remaining was internationally. Three Vietnamese airlines, namely Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air and Jetstar Pacific, hold 12 percent of international cargo transportation market, while the other 88 percent is being held by 64 foreign carriers which have air routes to Vietnam.

China and South Korea are the two leading countries in importing goods by air to Vietnam, with 74,000 and 57,000 tons imported to Vietnam in 2016, respectively.

The imports were mainly mobile phone accessories, electronic parts for domestic assembling. The US is Vietnam’s leading market in exports by air, with 99,000 tons.

Regarding infrastructure items, only Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat Airports have separate cargo terminals. At other airports, there is still no area dedicated for cargo handling, let alone an aviation logistics center.

Vietnam Airlines, the nation’s air flag carrier, in anticipation of the increase in the demand for transporting goods by air in Mekong River Delta, is considering setting up an aviation logistics center next to Can Tho Airport.

Kim Chi 

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