Announcement of the results of the 2022 Provincial Logistics Competitiveness Index (LCI) of Vietnam

1. Reason for Needing a Provincial Logistics Competitiveness Index for Vietnam

Logistics is an essential service industry in the national economic structure, supporting and connecting in promoting socio-economic development throughout the country and enhancing the competitiveness of the economy. Developing logistics services into an industry will generate high-added value while linking logistics to goods production, imports and exports, and domestic trade. Logistics is becoming increasingly important, as demonstrated clearly during Vietnam's fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The industrialization and modernization goals set by the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam require the logistics service industry, a high value-added service industry, to have breakthrough developments to meet the demand of being the circulatory system of the economy.

Tightly following the implementation of tasks set in Decision 221/QD-TTg, with the hope of making positive contributions to the goal of developing Vietnam's logistics service industry with the spirit of "Digital Transformation, Innovation, Creativity" as set by the 8th Congress of the Vietnam Logistics Business Association (2021-2024), VLA cooperated with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and research units VCCI, Dream Incubator (DI) and Vietnam Logistics Research and Development Institute (VLI) to implement the Vietnam Provincial Logistics Competitiveness Index (LCI) 2022 Project.

The Provincial Logistics Competitiveness Index (LCI) is an index that measures and evaluates the development pace, quality, infrastructure, and policies of provincial/municipal governments in Vietnam regarding the logistics business industry. The research and evaluation work will be built from survey data of enterprises, experts, and state management agencies. This index will show why there are differences and gaps between provinces/municipalities in Vietnam in developing logistics to serve businesses and imports/exports. Therefore, the evaluations from the LCI results will have substantial impacts and contributions to localities as well as the business community, helping state agencies develop suitable plans for their provinces/municipalities.

2. Journey of creating value for the logistics industry community

On August 11, 2022, the Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA) held a ceremony to announce the launching of the Vietnam Provincial Logistics Competitiveness Index 2022 project. At this ceremony, the VLA Executive Committee announced the LCI project and members of the Advisory Council and Research Team. Advisors with extensive experience, such as Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tran - Former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai - Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Mr. Pham Minh Duc - Senior Economist of the World Bank in Vietnam, participated in developing this index.

In addition, research team members included logistics service companies such as InterLOG, WR1, Trasas, Sotrans Logistics, Hoang Ha Logistics, and famous university lecturers such as Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ho Thi Thu Hoa - Head of Logistics and Supply Chain Management Department, International University - University of Social Sciences and Humanities, HCMC National University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Hop - Head of Industrial Engineering and Management Department, International University - University of Social Sciences and Humanities, HCMC National University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Trinh Thi Thu Huong - Vice Director of the International Economics and Business Institute, Foreign Trade University.

Over the past year, experts have continuously explored and researched to develop appropriate sets of standards that can encompass the logistics capacity of a region. In-depth interviews and large-scale sample surveys (about 2,000 samples) were conducted. Regular meetings were held to update the situation and consult relevant stakeholders. The 2022 report is the first release based on three criteria: GDP criterion, cargo volume criterion, and number of logistics enterprises criterion to select 26 representative provinces/cities nationwide for in-depth analysis.

The LCI index is built on 5 main pillars: Economy, Logistics Services, Legal and Policy Framework, Infrastructure, and Logistics Human Resources. A total of 42 research variables constitute these pillars.

InterLOG members participating in the research team made great efforts to connect and survey consignors (COs) for this project. The number of enterprises reached 45-50 large FDI enterprises in major economic regions nationwide, including Hanoi, Hung Yen, Hai Duong, Bac Giang, Thai Nguyen, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau. In addition, InterLOG helped VLA consult experts for the proposal on evaluation criteria impacting the LCI index and assessing the weights of those impacts.

Ms. Pham Thi Tinh - Commercial Director of InterLOG Hanoi Branch, who directly participated in developing the LCI index standards, said: "Participating in this project, I understood more clearly the LCI index development process, how impact factors affect provincial government decisions and macro-level logistics efficiency factors. I was also happy to contribute to the community and seek solutions to support our customer enterprises."

Specifically, the LCI results determination process will be unanimously implemented through 9 steps, starting with "Sample Selection" and ending with "Final Ranking Determination." Sample selection is difficult as it focuses in-depth research on only 26 provinces/cities. At the same time, other provinces/cities may also have outstanding logistics features but are not included in this evaluation list. Provinces/cities not mentioned this time will be further researched and analyzed in the following years. However, alongside difficulties, most enterprises responded positively, actively participated in surveys, and provided necessary information. This helped smoothly carry out the process of finding LCI results with high accuracy.

3. Achievements of researching the Provincial Logistics Competitiveness Index of Vietnam

After more than 1 year of implementation, from August 11, 2022, to November 2023, the report on Vietnam's Provincial Logistics Competitiveness Index 2022 was launched. On November 17, 2023, the rankings of logistics competitiveness of provinces/cities were officially announced on the occasion of celebrating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA). This is a significant event marking the maturity and growth of the Association as well as its contributions to the logistics industry.

In addition, InterLOG is proud to have accompanied the Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA) over the past 3 decades and continues to fully support the Association, from its early establishment to VLA's current strength. At the anniversary celebration ceremony, Ms. Tran Thanh Hoa - Commercial Director of InterLOG Ho Chi Minh City Branch, received the commemorative medal for accompanying VLA for over 30 years.

According to the 2022 Provincial Logistics Competitiveness Index evaluation table, Ho Chi Minh City topped the rankings in logistics competitiveness, followed by Hai Phong, Binh Duong, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and Hanoi in the top 5. In addition, there were 5 localities in the expected evaluation list but not yet ranked by the research team due to not receiving complete survey result forms from logistics service providers (LSPs), namely Lang Son, Thai Nguyen, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, and Thai Binh. Promising candidates with outstanding logistics systems will be evaluated next, including Vinh Phuc, Quang Ninh, Hung Yen, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam, and Khanh Hoa.

With these results, InterLOG has made a considerable contribution in connecting customers and enterprises, collecting survey opinions to obtain the most accurate practical information, and helping improve the accuracy of the LCI index. This also affirms InterLOG's positioning of understanding "customer pain points" to find practical solutions, helping them save costs and increase output. In addition, with the ESG model InterLOG is pursuing, customer connections are the "Social - S" factor, bringing great value to the logistics and social communities.

The 2022 Vietnam Provincial Logistics Competitiveness Index report reflects the desire of the Vietnam Logistics Business Association, Vietnam Logistics Research and Development Institute, and partners to have an objective assessment and ranking of logistics competitiveness between localities. This is an important reference for central and local governments in developing and implementing logistics development policies at both macro and micro levels to enhance local logistics capacity.

The LCI results will be a meaningful reference source that contributes to promoting logistics development toward regional integration and advancement of Vietnam's logistics development. It provides localities with benchmarks to review their strengths and weaknesses, learn from higher-ranking provinces/cities, and propose appropriate plans for logistics capacity building in the coming time.

The LCI is a valuable tool for enterprises to evaluate investment environments and select suitable business locations. It also encourages localities to improve institutional and infrastructural conditions and actively support policies to attract more logistics and transportation projects, thereby driving socio-economic development in general and the logistics industry in particular.

In summary, the LCI plays an essential role in logistics planning and development in Vietnam. It is expected to become an annual invaluable product, significantly impacting logistics-related management and business activities nationwide.