Hoa in Ho Chi Minh City’s Go Vap District said that amid the city’s strict social distancing order, she had recently told relatives in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum to send her a 15-kilo parcel of groceries including vegetables, meat and fish through an interprovincial coach company.

The fee for transporting the parcel from Kon Tum to a coach station in HCMC was VND200,000 (nearly $8.77), instead of the typical VND50,000. On arrival, the coach company hired a shipper to transport the parcel to Hoa’s home for VND150,000, instead of VND50,000.

An in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District said she had to pay total transport fees of VND600,000 for a 20-kilogram parcel sent from Kon Tum to her home in the city. "I have lived in HCMC for 10 years, and have never seen such high transport fees," she said.

Traders also have to pay higher fees to interprovincial coach firms. "Sometimes the value of goods is over VND1 million, but the transport fee is nearly half of that," said Loan, a seafood trader in the central province of Phu Yen.

Mai, a potato trader in the central highlands region, said transport fees for goods from the region to HCMC have surged four times to VND800,000 from VND200,000. There are fewer interprovincial coaches running between the region and HCMC, so coach firms have increased their fees, she explained.

Tan Anh Coach Company in Kon Tum said passenger coaches are banned from running to HCMC, so lorries are used to transport goods with longer travel times and larger freights. "In the past, it took vehicles 10-12 hours to run from Kon Tum to HCMC. Now, it takes 18-20 hours. We have to cover Covid tests, and more expensive fuel," the coach company revealed.

Coach firms in other provinces, including Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa also said goods-transporting vehicles consume more fuel than passenger coaches.

Meanwhile, shippers in HCMC explained that tightened social distancing, including travel restrictions, upped transport fees. "Each shipper is allowed to operate in a certain district, passing through many checkpoints," Thanh from Go Vap District said.

Ho Chi Minh City has recorded nearly 135,500 local Covid-19 cases since the fourth coronavirus wave hit Vietnam in late April. It is now the country's pandemic epicenter.