Logistics companies expect "positive signals" in the last months of the year

	Strengthening the capacity of SMEs in the logistics service
	Vietnamese logistics firms remain small, overpowered by foreign services
	Logistics development and the role of the Customs

The end of the year is always the time when the logistics market is busiest. Photo: Hong Nu.

Orders grow well

According to the National Center for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast (NCIF), when the world economy has many favorable factors for domestic economic activities, economic growth in 2018 is forecasted with many positive signals. Newly-signed free trade agreements are expected to bring breakthroughs in business investment and expansion of export markets.

Remarkably, there are many positive factors in import and export because of the improvements in the cooperation between Vietnam and other countries in the world. Together with that, the better growth of Vietnam's key partners in 2018 will have a positive impact on the demand for Vietnamese goods. Prices of key commodities are also forecasted in the uptrend, which will help increase trade volume in Vietnam. In addition, the recovery of domestic production also contributed to boosting exports. In the last months of the year, the consumption demand will increase, leading to the growth in the import and export markets as well as cargo services.

With the bright export and import situation in the last months of the year, many logistics enterprises also expressed their joy when orders increased much more than last year. Mr. Tran Binh Phu, the Director General of Vietfracht Shipping and Chartering Corporation, said that the growth rate was about 10% higher than that of the same period in 2017. This year, this corporation was affected by fluctuations in exchange rates as well as oil prices, which affected the production and business and the input costs for the company, so the freight rates were also pushed up higher than previous years. "However, thanks to the increase in new orders in the last months of the year and the old orders from the old customers and cooperation with familiar enterprises since the beginning of the year, the production of the corporation is very positive,and it is possible to reach the annual growth plan", Mr. Phu said.

Improve the capacity of the businesses

Many logistics enterprises said that in order to keep revenues and customers stable, logistics enterprises must meet the increasingly stringent requirements of customers. In addition, domestic logistics enterprises have also improved and increased trust, connected with customers and met the requirements related to machinery, Customs clearance certificates, Customs brokerage certificates, and so on, thereby expanding the business activities and increasing the number of orders for enterprises.

With the number of orders still growing in the last months of the year, according to Mr. Nguyen Minh Chinh, Thang Long Logistics Co., Ltd., due to long-term operation and the brand, the company still has many orders and cooperates with many large enterprises and foreign invested enterprises in the field of the logistics, such as Customs clearance, warehousing and transportation. In order to promote production to meet the demand of delivery on time, the company is rearranging the production line, researching and improving the operations to reduce time and improve production efficiency," said Mr. Chinh.

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Mr. Duong Minh Hoa, the Director General of Duong Minh Logistics said that the end of the year was always the time when the logistics market was busiest and most of the companies operating in this field had to work fully, not only transportation services but also Customs clearance services and liquidity services to report the final settlement of processed goods produced at the end of the year.