VIETNAMESE LOGISTICS ENTERPRISES ARE WORKING AS HIRED LABORERS RIGHT AT HOME

At the seminar to introduce Vietnam International Logistics Exhibition 2023, Mr. Cap Trong Cuong - General Director of Vietnam Container Corporation (Viconship) commented that domestic logistics enterprises should split into each field. specialized is strong, not inferior to FDI enterprises.

VIETNAMESE LOGISTICS ENTERPRISES ARE WORKING AS HIRED LABORERS RIGHT AT HOME

Mr. Cap Trong Cuong - General Director of Vietnam Container Corporation (Viconship) said that in general, logistics enterprises are employed in their own yard. Accordingly, FDI enterprises mainly invest in technology and human resources and then outsource.

At the seminar to introduce Vietnam International Logistics Exhibition 2023, Mr. Cap Trong Cuong - General Director of Vietnam Container Corporation (Viconship) commented that domestic logistics enterprises should split into each field. specialized is strong, not inferior to FDI enterprises.

However, if viewed as a whole, they are working as hired laborers in their own yard. Accordingly, FDI enterprises mainly invest in technology and human resources and then outsource.

"We have a lot of big foreign customers, but in fact we are still employees. We have the infrastructure, human resources and processes, but we are still working for them," said Mr. Cuong.

In addition, he said that the mutual support in the Vietnamese logistics business community from small to large is very weak, making the industry not develop according to its existing potential.

"There is a paradox that we are competing with each other by lowering prices to support foreign partners. However, we charge high fees for domestic enterprises. Personally, I do not agree. price competition We do a good job of reducing prices, but to a certain limit, if we continue to lower prices, businesses will go bankrupt. In addition, if prices are lowered forever, there is no accumulation to reinvest. Pursuing a pricing strategy is the dumbest thing, but Vietnamese logistics enterprises are still doing it," said Mr. Cuong.

As for the seaport issue, he said that Vietnam's price level is in a "low-lying area" compared to the world while the costs of businesses are high: "When it comes to the seaport sector, to be honest, I feel ashamed because of Vietnam's prices in the lowest point in the world, especially Hai Phong port. We lose to Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore..."

To overcome the shortcomings and develop the logistics industry, Mr.Cuong said that businesses need to focus on developing technology and adding value-added services.

Currently, many businesses are still paying too much attention to their core business but have not paid much attention to value-added services for their customers. For example, for warehouse operators, they only care about how many CBMs (Cubic Meter: cubic meters) a day or how many containers are in the warehouse. But when customers have other service needs, even small ones such as changing stamps or attaching stamps, they can't be met, losing competitiveness.

Or with the seaport segment, some businesses only invest in lifting equipment, but when they have to worry about super-long and super-heavy goods (OOC: Oversized, Overweight Cargo), they have to hire outside partners, which takes a lot of time. Meanwhile, the investment cost is also not large.

"For example, our customer is Maersk Line, each season they clear 6,000 FEU of OOC goods. In the past, there were cases where we had to hire outside vehicles to lift OOC goods for up to $ 20,000 / lot.

However, after that, we invested a few million USD to buy a 100 ton lifting vehicle and charged customers only a few hundred USD / time, the OOC order of Maersk Line and other customers increased dramatically. Only one year later we broke even," said Mr.Cuong.

He said that logistics businesses still have many opportunities, it is important to change and support each other.