Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's bustling economic hub, has cast a strategic spotlight on its logistics sector, identifying it as a critical driver of future economic growth and development.

This initiative was unveiled by Nguyen Tuan, deputy director of the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of Ho Chi Minh City (ITPC), during a seminar on July 4 focusing on enhancing the robustness of the city's logistics and seaport infrastructure – an effort aimed at fuelling economic growth and catalysing regional interconnectivity.

Reinforcing the city's commitment, Tuan unveiled a comprehensive blueprint titled The Development of Ho Chi Minh City's Logistics Sector up to 2025, with an orientation to 2030. This strategy aligns squarely with the city's overarching economic development trajectory as outlined in its 11^th Party Congress resolution.

As part of this blueprint, the city has earmarked the development of eight logistic hubs, totalling more than 750ha, in strategic locations including Cat Lai-Phu Huu in Thu Duc city, as well as in the Cu Chi, Binh Chanh, Nha Be, and Hoc Mon districts.

Recognising the complex interplay between infrastructure, finance, construction, and management, the eight logistic hubs will be integrated into the city's overarching general planning framework, set to run until 2040, with an extended vision until 2060.

"This will provide a robust foundation for phased implementation in the near future," stated Tuan.

The city's ongoing economic surge, coupled with rising income levels and heightened consumer demand, are seen as the propelling forces behind the planned growth of its domestic logistics sector, according to an ITPC spokesperson.

With the logistics landscape in major cities becoming increasingly competitive, enterprises are being spurred to expand their operational networks into diversified markets. The ITPC highlighted the rapid growth of e-commerce and the prevalence of smartphone usage as further catalysts expected to stimulate consumer spending, and concurrently, boost the logistics sector.

Thus, Ho Chi Minh City's strategic blueprint sets its sight on evolving the logistics sector into a spearhead service industry. It outlines ambitious targets including achieving a growth rate of 15 per cent in logistics service revenue by 2025, and 20 per cent by 2030.

The sector's contribution to the city's regional GDP is anticipated to reach 10 per cent by 2025 and 12 per cent by 2030. Another critical target is to curtail national logistics costs as a percentage of GDP to an estimated 10-15 per cent by 2025.

The strategy also envisages an increase in the rate of logistics outsourcing to 60 per cent by 2025, further rising to 70 per cent by 2030.

The city anticipates that the proportion of third- and fourth-party logistics providers will comprise between 3-5 per cent of the city's total logistics enterprises, fostering a robust ecosystem capable of leading the logistics service market across southern Vietnam and beyond.

"The blueprint places special emphasis on the development of a network of logistic centres, serving as transit and connection points for domestic and import-export goods flows," underlined Tuan.