DHL Express is seeing soaring growth in Vietnam as one of Asia’s tiger economies roars aheadwith a strong post-recession recovery. A new $5 million facility has been opened at Ho Chi Minh
City airport to add capacity.Vietnam, one of the fastest growing economies of the past decade, looks set to maintain its toprank as the Asian tiger-in-waiting makes the region’s strongest post-recession recovery, thecompany announced. In tandem with the country’s growth, DHL Express Vietnam’s volumes grew morethan 30% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2010 and are tipped to grow even further byyear-end.
John Pearson, CEO, DHL Asia-Pacific and EEMEA, said: “The recovery for both Vietnam and DHL isbeing powered by intra-Asia trade. Sixteen of Vietnam’s top 20 trade lanes are intra-Asia, all ofwhich have rebounded strongly in 2010, especially those in Southeast Asia. After shrinking in Q12009, the US has also recovered but Asia-Pacific trade lanes dominate both Vietnam’s imports andexports.”
Vietnam’s export revenue jumped 26% year-on-year from January to April 2010 (excluding preciousmetals) and industrial output grew 13.5% over the same period. Best performing sectors includedelectronics and computers, which rose 39% to US$985 million, and exports of tools and spare parts,which rose 75% to US$910 million.
Pearson added: “Vietnam is powering ahead and so is DHL. As a result of Vietnam’s positiveattitude to foreign direct investment, more than 100 of our own global customers are already hereand more are either are setting up shop in Vietnam and/or increasing their investment in thecountry. As logistics are key to business and economic success, we go where our customers need togo. So we are increasing our investment in Vietnam to ensure that we keep supporting fast growingcompanies and industries that play a major role in the country’s overall growth.”
In April this year, DHL Express enhanced its own commitment to the Vietnam express and logisticsmarket with the launch of its US$5 million state-of-the-art Ho Chi Minh Gateway. The world classfacility is located at the new Tan Son Nhat Cargo Express Service airside facility also includesa-state-of-the-art security system and facilities for temperature-controlled shipments in additionto more work space and better amenities for staff.
DHL Express stressed that as it maps out its plans for Vietnam and Asia as a whole, sustainabledevelopment will remain high on the priority list. To date, the company has improved overall CO2efficiency in Vietnam by 29% year-on-year and despite expanding its facilities in 2009, CO2emissions dropped by 0.23 million kilograms (13.9% lower year-on-year).
Bolstered by DHL’s strategic investments, Vietnam’s excellence in logistics is a key factor ofgrowth. According to the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI), Vietnam is the toplogistics performer in its income class. The LPI shows that countries with better logisticsperformance achieve better GDP, trade growth and diversification, allowing them to “punch abovetheir weight class”. Vietnam’s superior performance helped it to jump 18 spots to rank 71st in theWorld Economic Forum’s Enabling Trade Index (ETI) this year, beating India and The Philippines.
Tim Baxter, General Director of DHL – VNPT Express Ltd said: “Vietnam’s logistics infrastructureis key to both continued growth and vital diversification in this post-recession global economy.The country is clearly committed to this as well as the production of higher value products such aselectronics and computer components, so it’s good to see that Vietnam’s technology sector isleading the country’s recovery. Many of the top technology companies in Vietnam have alreadyrecovered to pre-crisis levels of revenue, and further growth is expected in 2011. Vietnam’s strongrecovery is also reflected in DHL’s performance indicators; our top 50 customers in Vietnam haveregistered a combined year-to-date growth of more than 40% in revenues over the same period in2009. Top performers come from the telecommunications, garments, textiles and footwear industries.”& amp; lt; /p>
Vietnam’s GDP is expected to grow between 6.2% and 7.8% per year between 2010 and 2014 as aresult of several key factors: its large, young and highly-literate population, continued successof the government’s FDI-friendly Doi Moi policy, political stability, and its proximity to China,Indo-China and Southeast Asia. It joined the World Trade Organization in 2007.
