The groundbreaking ceremony of the Vĩnh Phúc ICD Logistics Center which is the first super-port project of the ASEAN Smart Logistics Network. — VNA/VNS Photo

VĨNH PHÚC — The construction of the Vĩnh Phúc Inland Container Depot (ICD) Logistics Center, the first super-port project of the ASEAN Smart Logistics Network (ASLN) began on Thursday in the northern province of Vĩnh Phúc at a cost of VNĐ3.8 trillion (US$165.56 million). 

The ground-breaking ceremony of the project was attended by the National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ.

Spanning 83ha in Hương Canh Township and Sơn Lôi Commune in Bình Xuyên District, the centre has a designed customs clearance capacity of some 530,000 TEUs per year. The investor of the project is the T&Y Superport Vĩnh Phúc Joint Stock company, a consortium of the T&T Group and its Singaporean partners – the YCH Group and YCH Holdings Company.

As part of a detailed plan for the development of Việt Nam's inland port and logistics centre system in 2020, with a vision to 2030, the centre integrates the functions of a distribution centre and an inland container depot. Its first phase is planned to be put into operation in the third quarter of 2022 and Phase 2 in the fourth quarter of 2024.

This will be one of the largest logistics hubs in northern Việt Nam, linking industrial zones by road and rail as well as connecting to Hà Nội, the Hải Phòng International Airport, and China’s Yunnan province, emphasised a representative of T&T Group.

The centre is expected to pave the way for a breakthrough in Việt Nam's logistics, towards the goal of cutting logistics cost to about 16–20 per cent of the GDP and raising the ratio of the sector's contribution to the GDP to 5–6 per cent by 2025.

According to the World Bank’s 2020 data, logistics cost in Việt Nam accounted for about 20.9-25 per cent GDP. Meanwhile, the figures for Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore were 19 per cent, 13 per cent, and 8 per cent, respectively.

Also at the ceremony, the T&T Group presented Vĩnh Phúc with 100,000 COVID-19 rapid test kits worth VNĐ5 billion as a donation to the local pandemic response. — VNS