LONG AN - DESTINATION FOR LOGISTICS PROJECTS

Long An is located adjacent to Ho Chi Minh City, a bridge between the Southern Key Economic Region and the Mekong Delta. The province has 37 industrial parks (ranked 5th in the country by number, 13th by FDI value and 3rd by domestic investment value), a border gate economic zone and an international port. In recent years, its industrial parks have attracted many warehousing and logistics investors that play an important role in supporting the manufacturing industry and help boost local socio-economic development.

Untapped strengths

Long An province has a well-distributed road and waterway traffic system that facilitates trade, traveling as well as freight transportation. However, at present, the development of trade and logistics services remains at a basic level and much potential has not been fully tapped for development. Compared with long-standing industrially developed provinces like Binh Duong and Dong Nai, Long An's industry has only started to thrive in recent years, along with industrial support services, including logistics that support industrial development. Tenants in Long An province-based industrial parks mostly hire logistics services in other localities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Dong Nai and exported goods are mostly handled via Hiep Phuoc, Cat Lai and other ports. Meanwhile, quite a few companies know and use services at Long An International Port as it has many competitive advantages in terms of costs and services.

Gradually completed transport system

Giving priority to transport system development, the province has focused on investing, upgrading and completing the road system to meet the increasing freight circulation. Arterial roads have been upgraded and completed, including Ho Chi Minh City-Trung Luong Expressway, Provincial Road 830, National Highway N2, Beltway 4 and roads linking Long An and Ho Chi Minh City. Besides, developing industrial zones has helped expand traffic connectivity. Internal transport networks in industrial parks not only help connect public transport routes but also link to their adjacent industrial parks as well as to Ho Chi Minh City and Tay Ninh province.

In the transport development plan to 2030, the province will develop modern transport infrastructure and enhance the interconnectivity of major urban centers, growth centers and localities. The province will develop efficient traffic networks and interlink local traffic networks to become a real gateway for the Mekong Delta and the Southern Key Economic Zone, form a chain of traffic systems to ensure smooth transportation services for people and businesses and serve local socio-economic development.

Currently, Long An province-based industrial parks have attracted about 60 investment logistics projects aimed to serve the industrial production of companies inside and outside industrial parks. The industrial parks have recently drawn many goods warehousing and storage investors such as BW Industrial Development Joint Stock Company which hires 22.6 ha of land in Vinh Loc 2 Industrial Park and 20.4 ha in Xuyen A Industrial Park to build warehouses for rent. The company will supply to the market about 213,000 square meters of two-story ready-built warehouses with ramps in Vinh Loc 2 Industrial Park and then 220,000 square meters of two-story ready-made warehouses with ramps in Xuyen A Industrial Park in the fourth quarter of 2023. JD Property Vietnam Co., Ltd. also broke ground for JD Property Logistics Park in Tan Duc Industrial Park with a total land area of 101,130 square meters. Flexible area leasing will perfectly meet the diverse needs of tenants from various industries.

In addition to warehousing services, Long An province also has other strengths in ready-built factories provided by Kizuna Joint Stock Company, Vietnam Industrial Park Group Joint Stock Company and other companies, and high-rise ready-built factories in Long Hau, Thuan Dao, Phuc Long and other industrial parks.

Apart from service providers, the Long An Economic Zone Authority and relevant governmental agencies always actively cooperate with businesses to actively carry out programs to connect and build product supply chains in industrial zones in Long An. Specifically, the authority worked with Long Hau Joint Stock Company (LHC), Investment and Trade Promotion Center of Ho Chi Minh City (ITPC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to organize the Workshop on “Connecting global supply chain for enterprises in industrial zones and export processing zones”. Additionally, the authority attended supporting industry exhibitions along with other promotion activities that contributed to smoothing the flow of goods.

International border gates and ports with great potential for development

Long An province has two border gates with much potential for development, namely Binh Hiep International Border Gate and My Quy Tay National Border Gate. The former, located in Kien Tuong Town, has Long An Border Gate Economic Zone that has effectively tapped labor and locational strengths and potential as a border-sharing area with Cambodia and neighboring provinces in Dong Thap Muoi subregion. After more than six years of operation, the economic zone has attracted two FDI projects with US$75 million of investment capital that rented 21.2 ha of land and two private projects that hired 0.66 ha of land. The province also continued to ask the central government to upgrade and expand National Highway 62 to meet the increasing intermodal transport demand. This is the only route to connect the economic zone with the region.

The latter, situated in Duc Hue district, is endowed with various advantages when it borders the two industrial districts of Duc Hoa and Ben Luc. The border gate area was also planned by the province to complete the transportation system, including Provincial Road 822B that links Duc Hue with Duc Hoa to Ho Chi Minh City, Beltway 4 as well as the traffic axis that connects My Quy Tay Border Gate with Long An International Port.

Located to the east of Long An province where many industrial parks are concentrated, Long An International Port is capable of serving vessels of up to 70,000 tons. The expanded port has eight cargo wharves and one dedicated wharf for liquid cargo along with three mooring pontoon berths. Currently, the port is preparing for the installation of the most modern and advanced cranes imported from Japan, expected to be completed in 2023. To become an important logistics center in the region, Long An International Port proposes building a "container bus" system with a berth at the port from which barges and trains are closely linked with other ports in the region to transport containerized freight to the terminus of Long An International Port and then to other countries. Therefore, companies will pay less cost than ground transport and transport out-of-gauge items that may be very difficult to transport by road.

All of the above conditions are very favorable for the province to develop logistics and trade services, and connect and exchange goods. Nevertheless, the development level of this field is still quite modest, just at the beginning stage, with a lot of untapped potential for development such as industrial strengths, cross-border economy and seaports. Long An province will continue to complete the connecting transport infrastructure, create a more available land fund for industrial projects, and attract more industrial and service investors to make the most of available advantages, thus boosting economic restructuring towards increasing the share of industry, construction and services and ensuring rapid and sustainable economic development and environmental protection.

Source: VCCI