09/13/2024 07:05

Vietnam logistics faces pressure to go green. (Photo: TCCT).

(PLVN) - Vietnam's export turnover accounts for the majority of fastidious markets. The demands of these markets are increasingly high and currently these customers are demanding green production processes. This is putting logistics in front of great difficulties.

Many advantages for developing green logistics

Dr. Tran Thi Thu Huong - Head of Logistics and Supply Chain Department, University of Commerce, said that Vietnamese logistics enterprises have many advantages when making green transformation. In particular, the first advantage that needs to be mentioned is that the green economy is receiving special attention in Vietnam and in recent years, the green economy in Vietnam has achieved certain achievements. For example, the growth rate of the green economy in Vietnam in the period from 2018 to 2021 has reached 10 - 13%/year and the green economy has also contributed to Vietnam's GDP by about 2%.

In addition, some sectors in the economy have paid special attention to developing the green economy and among the 6-8 sectors that the State is interested in investing in, there are sectors that are especially related to green logistics such as transportation.

Ms. Dang Hong Nhung - representative of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said that priority policies in the logistics sector are still being implemented. For example, the project to build a logistics center is on the list of investment incentives and will enjoy full incentives according to the provisions of the Investment Law and guiding documents.

In addition, the Government is focusing on supporting businesses in vehicle conversion. This means encouraging businesses to switch to low-emission vehicles and currently mainly use electric vehicles. Specifically, the Government has had very prominent policies such as: exempting registration fees for the first 3 years for battery-powered electric trucks and reducing registration fees by 50% for the next two years. In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also has projects to support businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, in the process of converting to energy saving.

Notably, Ms. Nhung said that the Ministry of Industry and Trade is currently carrying out the task assigned by the Prime Minister to develop a draft Strategy for the development of Vietnam's logistics services for the period 2025 - 2035 and vision to 2045. In the draft strategy, the issue of developing green logistics is also one of the leading viewpoints.

…but the pressure is also great

Dr. Tran Thi Thu Huong informed that according to a survey result, about 66% of Vietnamese logistics enterprises have started to have green goals in their business development strategy. However, in practice, it is found that only a few have been able to implement them. For example, in terms of applying standards, only about 33% of enterprises have applied ISO 14,000 standards. This shows that there is still a gap from strategy to actual implementation in enterprises.

According to Ms. Dang Hong Nhung, the green trend will create both pressure and opportunities for the logistics industry. Ms. Nhung analyzed that the pressure lies in the fact that businesses will have to comply with new regulations of governments and international organizations on green transformation in limiting waste and saving energy consumption. For example, the International Maritime Organization is tightening regulations on marine fuel and these regulations will affect the entire world maritime industry and Vietnam is not immune to those regulations.

In addition, the pressure also comes from customers. Because Vietnam's major importers such as the US, EU and Japan are all very demanding customers. They have very high requirements for green criteria. "If in the past these criteria only applied to products, meaning that only the products had to be green, now these criteria apply to the entire production process of that product, the production process of the product must be green. Logistics, as an activity that connects the entire production process, is therefore also facing the requirement to green, and if we do not meet these requirements, we will be out of the game," said Ms. Nhung.

Dr. Tran Thi Thu Huong also said that to convert to green logistics, there will be great pressure because the first stage will certainly require businesses to invest heavily in terms of costs.

Not to mention, Vietnam has only participated in part of the global logistics chain. This will create pressure for Vietnamese enterprises because when large corporations and logistics companies act as operators of global logistics chains, they strongly transform to green and they require Vietnamese logistics enterprises when participating in their logistics chains to also meet the requirements to green their entire logistics chain. However, according to Ms. Huong, this pressure will also create opportunities and promote Vietnamese logistics enterprises to transform and promote the logistics process of Vietnamese enterprises faster.

At the same time, large logistics enterprises in Vietnam are under competitive pressure with foreign logistics companies present in Vietnam, forcing them to accelerate greening to be able to compete and gain market share with foreign logistics companies.