Do Xuan Quang, deputy CEO of Vietjet Air, said the Vietnamese air cargo market has been growing steadily by 5-6 percent per annum over the last 10 years. 

Total cargo volume going through domestic airports is 1.4 million tons, of which 200,000 tons were domestically transported goods and 1.2 million tons internationally transported goods.

The air transport output accounted for less than one percent of total volume of goods transported, but for 25 percent of total export value, which shows that most goods transported by air are valuable products such as electronics and time-sensitive goods.

Samsung Vietnam, for example, needs to transport 3,000 tons of phones and electronics a week. However, these valuable products are carried only by Korean Air and Asiana Airlines.

Also according to Quang, Vietnamese airlines can obtain orders to carry 12 percent of total goods abroad by air, while the remaining 88 percent are undertaken by foreign airlines.

Other countries have specialized fleets with aircraft specifically designed for cargo transport. The airplanes have chambers with a capacity of up to 100 tons of goods and with room for goods in bulk. 

Meanwhile, Vietnam doesn’t have specialized aircraft and has to use passenger aircraft for carrying cargo. The containing capacity is small and the products for transport are mostly vegetables and fruits, which have low value.

Why don’t Vietnamese carriers buy specialized aircraft? The answer lies in poor infrastructure. Vietnam’s airlines have 250 airplanes. In many cases, aircrafts have to stay aloft while waiting for other airplanes to take off before they can land.

“Vietnam has a geo-strategic position in terms of transport and logistics connectivity in the Asia-Pacific region. However, it still has not become a goods transit point like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Hong Kong. This is because infrastructure development has not caught up with economic development,” he explained.

However, experts believed that Vietnam has great opportunities to develop in the future. The Secretary General of the Vietnam Logistics Association cited JPMorgan’s report that by 2025, Apple would relocate 20 percent of its iPad production line, 5 percent of MacBook, 20 percent of Apple Watch and 65 percent of iPod to Vietnam. These are all valuable products which need to be transported by air.

Tran Chung