The southern metropolis Ho Chi Minh City will form logistics centres in concentrated production areas or those near seaports to provide various services and operate as ports, container depots and container freight stations. 

It was part of a project on logistics development in HCM City built by the municipal Department of Industry and Trade, aiming to minimise logistic costs. 

On March 20, the Vietnam Logistics Association (VLA) and the municipal Department of Industry and Trade, organised a seminar discussing promoting the development of logistics services in the city, drawing representatives from nearly 100 firms in the field. 

In 2017, the logistics sector of the city reached 91.541 trillion VND (4.03 billion USD), accounting for 8.6 percent of the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) and 14.8 percent of the service sector, according to statistics.

Logistics is the second most important industry in the nine key services of the city with growth of 10.84 percent in 2017 from the year before.  

In 2016, Vietnam ranked 64th out of 160 countries in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index and fourth in ASEAN after Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.  

However, Vietnamese firms mainly provide domestic logistics services such as transport service, airport, seaport and warehouse services and cargo loading and unloading services. 

Only a small number of firms provide international logistics services through acting as agents for foreign enterprises.-VNA