Hanoi (VNA) - Substantial amounts of domestic and foreign capital are beingpoured into major logistics projects in the south of Vietnam.

Lastweekend, the Tan Cang - Cai Mep JSC and the Republic of Korea’s KCTC Vietnam signeda comprehensive partnership deal on providing warehousing and logisticsservices.

Foundedin Vietnam more than a decade ago, KCTC Vietnam provides multimodal transport,cargo handling, warehousing, logistics consulting, and goods storage services,according to general director Park Hyun Bae.

Withyears of experience in logistics services, KCTC Vietnam aims to become a centreproviding the best logistics solutions to customers in the East - South - NorthAsian regions, he said.

Meanwhile,the Tan Cang - Cai Mep JSC has operated a deep-water seaport of the same namein the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Vietnam’s first, since June 2009,which is capable of berthing vessels of up to 160,000 DWT.

The twocompanies have cooperated over recent years to handle Out of Gauge shipments atports in the Cai Mep area. The new partnership is therefore expected to betterserve shipments by FDI firms in Vietnam and set the scene for the logisticssector to thrive.

Work,meanwhile, started in September on the second phase of the Long AnInternational Port project in the Mekong Delta province of Long An. The 147-haport is being developed in three phases with a total investment of nearly 10trillion VND (430.7 million USD). It is designed to have seven wharves with two- wharves No 6 and 7 - built in the second phase and be able to berth vessels ofup to 70,000 DWT.

Work onwharves No 4 and 5 is being fast-tracked so they will be operational by 2021.

Constructionwas completed on three wharves with a total length of 630 metres in the project’sfirst phase. As of 2019, Long An International Port had received nearly 1,000domestic and foreign ships, including many of 50,000DWT, and handled about 1million tonnes of cargo.

Theproject investor is working on legal procedures to expand the port and buildtwo other wharves at an undisclosed date, which would be able to receive100,000DWT ships.

Thiswould increase its total number of wharves to nine with a combined length of 2,368metres, making it one of the country’s longest international ports.

Expertsestimate that Vietnam’s logistics market accounts for 21-25 percent of GDP, butthe industry remains dominated by foreign investors holding a market share ofsome 80 percent. More foreign investment is expected to land into the sector inthe future, as Vietnam is now a member of a number of new free trade agreements(FTAs), such as the EU-Vietnam FTA.

InAugust, the IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, announced it will provide afinancing package of 70 million USD to the Vietnam-based Indo Trans LogisticsCorporation (ITL Corp), to support the development of the logistics sector, therebyfacilitating trade and enhancing Vietnam’s competitiveness amid COVID-19.

Accordingto the IFC, Vietnam’s logistics sector has enjoyed strong growth over the lastfew years, which can be attributed to record-high foreign investment, mainly inmanufacturing and processing, which require strong logistics, and from boominglocal consumption.

The loanwill enable ITL Corp to provide higher quality and sophisticated logisticsservices to local manufacturers and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Meanwhile,European investors are eyeing injecting capital in developing Cai Mep Ha Port’s984-million USD logistics services centre on an area of over 1,760 ha.

Theproject aims to provide seaport services and goods storage in bondedwarehouses, frozen warehouses, and others, with a capacity of 3 milliontwenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) per year./.