Connecting port and logistics systems to seize new opportunities

With all five modes of transportation: road, inland waterways, rail, aviation and maritime shipping, alongside a strong industrial base and ample room for development, Dong Nai City is well positioned to gradually evolve into a modern logistics hub, strengthen its competitiveness, and reinforce its role as a major cargo transshipment and distribution center of the Southern Key Economic Region.

Dong Nai is prioritizing the development of logistics centers, port systems and modern inland container depots (ICDs). Photo: Hai Quan

In this context, accelerating port service development and strengthening linkages for green, sustainable logistics services will help foster a more integrated port service ecosystem, contributing to local economic growth, particularly as Dong Nai has officially become a city.

Building a logistics ecosystem

According to the Department of Industry and Trade (DoIT), the city’s logistics sector has recorded strong growth in recent years, with around 439 transport enterprises and nearly 40,000 freight vehicles, including more than 4,300 container tractors directly serving import-export operations.

The city’s inland waterway network, stretching roughly 200 kilometers, represents a major advantage for developing low-cost logistics services. Under Dong Nai’s seaport development plan through 2030, the city’s port system is projected to handle between 39.5 million and 52 million tons of cargo annually. Specially, Dong Nai has planned 14 key logistics centers and 12 inland container depots (ICDs) across the city. Among them are four regional logistics hubs surrounding Long Thanh Airport, including the Southern logistics center of Long Thanh International Airport, the Northern logistics center of Long Thanh International Airport, the Eastern transshipment mega-logistics warehouse center, and the logistics center within the Phuoc An Port logistics service zone.

Going forward, Dong Nai will continue promoting the development of logistics centers, warehouse systems, ICDs and transport connectivity services to gradually establish a comprehensive logistics ecosystem closely linked with the city’s logistics gateways. At the same time, the city aims to attract logistics enterprises, infrastructure investors and supporting service providers to participate more actively in developing local logistics chains.

Speaking at a panel discussion themed “Forward together – Embracing New Era” in May 2026, Nguyen Ngoc Thuc, Head of the Trade Management Division under the DoIT, said Dong Nai, the country’s seventh city, possesses many favorable development fundamentals. These include one of the country’s leading economic scales, an extensive industrial park network, a large import-export business community and, notably, rapidly expanding strategic infrastructure developed in a synchronized manner. Major projects such as Long Thanh International Airport, expressway systems, interregional ring roads and logistics corridors connecting the Cai Mep–Thi Vai port cluster are gradually shaping a more complete logistics infrastructure network for the region.

Within this development vision, logistics is viewed as one of the key infrastructure pillars of a modern urban economy. The development of new logistics gateways, stronger multimodal transport connectivity and a synchronized logistics ecosystem will serve not only immediate economic objectives but also Dong Nai’s longer-term growth ambitions.

“The DoIT will continue working closely with the import-export business community, logistics enterprises, shipping lines and forwarders to promote the development of a more modern, integrated and efficient logistics ecosystem in the years ahead,” Nguyen Ngoc Thuc added.

Nguyen Duy Hung, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Dong Nai Logistics Association, said the formation of a logistics ecosystem optimized for supply chains would create favorable conditions for expanding Dong Nai’s port and logistics systems and help the locality seize new development opportunities. This is particularly significant as Dong Nai has become a city and its infrastructure network continues to improve. He suggested that the locality should capitalize on the advantages of the Dong Nai river system by expanding logistics centers, ports and inland container depots, including Phuoc An Port, the largest seaport in Dong Nai. Meanwhile, the city should strengthen inter-port connectivity and accelerate administrative reforms in logistics and import-export procedures, thereby helping optimize supply-chain costs and move toward building a professional, modern and sustainable logistics community.

Elevating the cargo supply chain

According to experts, strengthening connectivity in port and logistics services will require localities, including Dong Nai, to promote science and technology applications, deepen supply-chain linkages in port services, improve transport support services, develop human resources and accelerate green transition amid increasingly deep global integration. In particular, green logistics is emerging as an inevitable trend and an important benchmark for measuring the sector’s sustainable development.

At a time when global supply chains are undergoing significant disruption and restructuring, the development of new connection points that are modern, flexible and efficient has become an unavoidable requirement. Leveraging its strategic location in Dong Nai, together with synchronized planning for transport and logistics infrastructure, Phuoc An Port has been identified as a crucial “link” within the southern region’s seaport network and supply chain.

Truong Hoang Hai, Director of Petro Vietnam Phuoc An Port Investment & Operation JSC (Phuoc An Port), said that in recent years, the strategic partnership with Saigon Newport Corporation, Vietnam’s leading port operator, has opened a new development path for Phuoc An Port.

He noted that the partnership goes far beyond operational cooperation. Instead, it represents integration within a broader logistics ecosystem, where the capacity, experience and network of Saigon Newport Corporation are combined with the development potential of Phuoc An Port to generate greater value for customers, shipping lines and import-export enterprises.

In the coming period, Phuoc An Port will continue improving service quality in line with professional and transparent standards, accelerate the application of technology in operations and management, and expand connectivity with port systems, ICDs and domestic logistics networks in pursuit of sustainable development.

Colonel Bui Van Quy, Deputy Commander of Corps 20 and Deputy General Director of Saigon Newport Corporation, emphasized that the corporation remains committed to developing an integrated and synchronized port–logistics ecosystem model, placing customers at the center, system connectivity at the foundation, service quality as the measure of credibility, and supply-chain efficiency as a long-term objective.

Under current conditions, the challenge is no longer simply operating an individual port efficiently, but reorganizing service space, reallocating cargo flows and reconnecting the various links across the broader system to deliver greater, more flexible and more sustainable service capacity.

Against this backdrop, cooperation between Saigon Newport Corporation and Phuoc An Port represents a strategic move to expand operational space, increase cargo-handling capacity and further complete the seaport-logistics ecosystem of the Southern Key Economic Region.

By H. Quan – Translated by M.Nguyet, Thu Ha