Forum overview

Speaking at the "Developing logistics human resources" conference of the Vietnam Logistics Forum 2021, the Minister of Industry and Trade, Nguyen Hong Dien, said “the logistics market in Vietnam is welcomed by the business community and international organizations appreciate the potential for strong development, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic is under control, and for production and business activities to recover and grow again.

Vietnam's logistics service industry has seen rapid development, growing at an average annual rate of 10-15%, meeting the requirements of domestic and international customers.

However, the industry still has many limitations and has not developed its full potential. The industry's competitiveness is low while logistics costs are high.

The relationship between import-export enterprises and logistics service enterprises is not efficient, and one of the main causes of the above limitations is the shortage of human resources, which have not really met the development needs of the new situation.

“The difficulty in HR for the logistics industry will increase as Vietnam integrates into the world more and more deeply, especially in the ASEAN Economic Community and joins new generation of free trade agreements", Minister Nguyen Hong Dien said.

Some economic experts assessed that, in the long term, human resources will be a decisive factor to help Vietnamese logistics enterprises quickly catch up with other countries, improve competitiveness and expand markets in the whole country, including both regional and international.

Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said, “in order to meet the demand for human resources in terms of both size and quality we will need to serve the logistics industry well in the coming period. Firstly, it is necessary to promote linkages and cooperation between Vietnam and other countries.

It will be necessary to take advantage of support resources from developed countries, as they have strengths in training human resources in the logistics industry, allowing Vietnam to train and build a team of officials working in State management. As well as that, we will need to generate a contingent of Vietnamese lecturers who can teach high quality, domestic teaching.

In addition, it’s essential to strengthen cooperation between education and training institutions and with enterprises using human resources. Enterprises using logistics human resources need to be attracted and facilitated to participate more actively in the process of training, guiding internships and increasing practical access for students...

In addition to human resources, building a strong business in the field of logistics is a matter of great concern.

In the long run, human resources will be the decisive factor to help Vietnamese logistics enterprises quickly catch up with other countries. Source: Internet

According to the Vietnam Logistics Report, 2021, there are currently more than 4,000 logistics enterprises operating professionally providing international logistics services. However, Vietnamese logistics enterprises continue to face stiff competition with foreign logistics enterprises. Logistics service enterprises in Vietnam account for a large proportion, about 95%, but most of them are small, micro enterprises providing services without high added value.

From a business perspective, Mr. Dam Dinh Vinh, Chairman of OPL Logistics, said, “despite many difficulties due to the impact of Covid-19, Vietnam's import and export turnover in the eleven months of 2021 still grew, reaching about USD 600 billion. The USD One trillion in import and export turnover of Vietnam is not far away and this will be a great opportunity for many industries, especially for businesses operating in the logistics industry.

“In order to seize opportunities as well as realize its goals, OPL is building specific strategies on business, human resources, market development, investment, finance and information technology”.

At the same time, OPL is opening branches in countries such as China, Southeast Asian countries, the Middle East and the US. The quality of personnel, especially the leadership team and all levels of management must meet international standards.

According to experts, in order to make an important contribution to improving the competitiveness of the economy in general and trade activities in particular, Vietnamese logistics enterprises need to focus on providing valuable services such as high growth rate, international multimodal transport services and cross-border logistics services.