VN logistics sector expects e-commerce to drive rapid growth

12 Mar 2019 2057 | Business & Trade Fairs

ON February 11, Logivan (LOGIVAN Technologies Pte), a Vietnamese platform that connects truckers with shipping companies, secured $5.5 million from venture capital firm Alpha JWC and two angel investors, including David Su, the founding managing partner at Matrix Partners China.

Indonesia-based Alpha JWC has strengths in fintech and consumption, and is well-known in the US and China. It targets companies with strong growth and potential to expand to new markets in future.

A Logivan spokesman said the newly raised funds would be used to invest in data analysis and integration to improve the effectiveness of its supply chain and bring the best experience to customers.

The company will apply artificial intelligence in clarifying documents, meeting user demand and providing more accurate forecasts of orders. It will also continue to develop technologies to connect trucks and calculate transport costs.

Earlier this year Gemadept Joint Stock Company invested 100 billion dong ($4.41 million) into one of its subsidiaries, Phuc Long Port Limited Company, to increase its charter capital to 300 billion dong to expand its business scope.

Last year Phuc Long Port made a significant contribution to Gemadept’s turnover of 2.3 trillion dong and after-tax profit of 1.9 trillion dong, which represented increases of 200 billion dong and 3.2 times.

The port’s success encouraged Gemadept to further invest in logistics services, a company spokesperson said.

According to Vietnam Report released last December by Vietnam Report Joint Stock Company, 73 per cent of enterprises involved in the logistics sector believe that the sector will grow by 10 per cent this year and see robust development of transportation in the e-commerce sector.

A World Bank report confirmed this, saying Vietnam’s position in the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) jumped 25 places to 39th out of 160 surveyed countries last year from 2016.

This is the country’s highest ranking since 2007 when the bank first started compiling the list.

Among Asean member countries, Vietnam ranked third behind Singapore (seventh) and Thailand (32nd).

Ministry of Transport officials attributed the rapid rise to improvements in “Logistics Competence” (up 29 places) and “Tracking and Tracing” (up 41 places).

Vietnam’s e-commerce market grew 24 per cent in 2017 to 6.2 billion dong. It is estimated that the number of express deliveries would rise to 530 million by next year.

Analysts have listed more reasons for the logistics enterprises’ high expectations, saying the Vietnamese logistics market has in recent years become much busier with many major retail businesses like Vincommerce, FPT, Lotte and The Gioi Di Dong entering the fray.