Turning Hai Phong into international logistics hub in Northern Vietnam
Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung has called on Hai Phong to further promote its role as a logistics hub in the North and develop an integrated model combining seaports, logistics, industry, trade and urban areas.
The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), in coordination with the Hai Phong People's Committee, directed relevant agencies to organize the 7th Regional Logistics Forum under the theme “Create new growth space for logistics in the Red River Delta region” at the Hai Phong Convention and Performance Center on the afternoon of September 21.
Organizing logistics around economic regions and supply chains
Speaking at the forum, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung emphasized that logistics is not merely a supporting service sector but an important component of the national economic infrastructure, directly determining the competitiveness of goods, businesses and the economy.
The Deputy Prime Minister required substantive implementation of the Vietnam Logistics Development Strategy, with clear priorities, key areas of focus and measurable results. The ultimate goal is to reduce logistics costs for the economy, individual businesses and individual products while improving productivity, connectivity and the competitiveness of goods.
Dung called for the development of Vietnam's seaport system into the center of a modern, green and smart logistics and marine economic ecosystem, while attracting major shipping lines, international port operators, regional distribution centers, global logistics companies and technology investors to establish long-term operations in Vietnam.
The Deputy Prime Minister called on localities in the Red River Delta to strengthen coordination in developing logistics across the region and along economic corridors, creating integrated supply chains and limiting fragmented, overlapping and wasteful investment.
The Deputy Prime Minister asked Hai Phong to further promote its role as a logistics hub in the North and study an integrated development model combining seaports, logistics, industry, trade and urban areas, particularly in Lach Huyen and Nam Do Son, linked with Dinh Vu - Cat Hai Economic Zone and the Free Trade Zone. The city should regard its international gateway port system and multimodal logistics as distinctive advantages and long-term growth drivers, Dung noted.
Promoting seaport advantages and expanding development space
Speaking at the opening of the forum, Le Ngoc Chau, Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Hai Phong Party Committee and Head of the Hai Phong National Assembly Delegation, emphasized that Hai Phong is an industrial and seaport center, a major transport hub and a growth pole of the Northern Key Economic Region.
The city has all major forms of transport, including road, sea, rail, inland waterway and air, creating favorable conditions for logistics development and connecting production and the movement of goods within the region with domestic and international markets.
Over the past years, logistics services in the city have developed strongly in both scale and quality. During 2021-2025, the sector recorded average annual growth of more than 10% and contributed around 11.5% to the city's GRDP. Cargo throughput through the seaport system has continued to increase, contributing to Hai Phong becoming the only locality in the country to maintain double-digit economic growth for 11 consecutive years.
According to the Secretary of the City Party Committee, amid the restructuring of global supply chains and increasingly intense competition among logistics hubs, the Red River Delta must do more than expand its logistics scale. It needs to establish a national logistics hub with high connectivity, international competitiveness and high added value. Hai Phong has identified logistics and seaport services as key drivers in its new phase of development.
To realize this goal, the city will continue to build a developmental, service-oriented and action-oriented administration that works for residents and enterprises; accelerate administrative reform and ensure openness and transparency, using the satisfaction of residents and businesses as a measure of operational effectiveness.
Hai Phong places emphasis on long-term, modern and integrated planning; strengthens regional connectivity and international cooperation; and expands its development space and supply chains. The city will promote its role as an important growth pole in the Ha Noi - Hai Phong - Quang Ninh triangle; strengthen connections with northeastern coastal localities, the Vietnam-China economic corridors, and economic centers in ASEAN and internationally.
To turn its potential and advantages into concrete results, Hai Phong will strengthen connectivity, share benefits, and jointly invest and develop with localities, the business community and international partners, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of the entire region.
The forum featured a presentation session and two thematic discussion sessions. Delegates focused on completing institutions in the fields of maritime transport, inland waterways and logistics; connecting seaports with inland waterway transport; developing container transport by waterway; building an interregional logistics ecosystem; and unlocking resources for infrastructure investment.
The discussion on attracting investment in Lach Huyen International Gateway Port focused on development orientations, investment attraction mechanisms, completion of port-area infrastructure, green transition requirements and the development of a logistics service ecosystem around the port.
Opinions and recommendations raised at the forum helped clarify practical bottlenecks and provide additional grounds for improving policies, mobilizing resources and strengthening logistics development linkages between Hai Phong and other localities in the Red River Delta.
LE HIEP - LE DUNG