"Viet Nam is considered to have the third fastest growth in airfreight in the world," Vu Huy Cuong, deputy general director of the Viet Nam Civil Aviation Authority, said, opening the conference.

"However, our achievements are owed to unco-ordinated efforts by different sectors, there are no links between them or a complete logistics chain and weaknesses in human resources and technology application."

Some 50 airlines from 25 nations and territories have been operating in Viet Nam since 2001, with airfreight growing annually at 15.3 per cent.

"Developing a complete logistics chain is a must and the conference aims to learn about airfreight experience around the world and apply it to the Vietnamese situation," Do Xuan Quang, chairman of the Viet Nam Airfreight Logistics Association, said.

He listed the challenges facing the Vietnamese airfreight logistics industry like the slowdown in GDP growth, the global economic crisis, volatile fuel prices along with the industry's seasonality, local airlines remaining small and their focus on passenger fleets, and a shortage of skilled, trained human resources in the aviation industry.

Twenty international speakers shared their experiences in four areas with 300 logistics executives: new trends and challenges in Asia Pacific airfreight, vision – mission of connecting airfreight logistics, promoting co-operation and development of airfreight logistics, and developing human resources in airfreight logistics.

Clement Blanc, managing director of DGF Viet Nam, said the international trend was to use the belly hold.

"There has been a mentality shift from the 1990s and early 2000s when bigger was better. In the late 2000s it is carry less more often."

Fuel accounted for around 50 per cent of the cost operating a cargo aircraft, he said.

He also pointed out that the industry was moving away from warehousing/inventory, with most aircraft being huge and with good frequency and capacity to the right markets.

"Viet Nam has grown from a GDP of US$33.6 billion in 2000 to $171.4 billion in 2014, but airfreight capacity has not grown at the same pace to support the growth.

"Insufficient airfreight capacity to meet the requirements of customers unlike other locations means we lose cargo to neighbouring countries."

Tom Hoang, regional director, cargo marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in 2013 HCM City and Ha Noi had been listed among the top 20 and 22 cargo airports in Asia with 376,000 tonnes and 348,500 tonnes and growth rates of 10 per cent and 23.3 per cent.

"The Viet Nam air cargo market is forecast to grow at 11.5 per cent a year over the next decade."

He warned that to sustain growth, Viet Nam must meet the market's aircraft payload/range requirements, meet current and future noise and emissions standards, ensure low operation costs and find a balance between volume and weight capacity. 

VNS