Da Nang plans to build a logistics complex to position Da Nang as an international-standard logistics centre for Viet Nam, ASEAN and the Asia Pacific region as a whole by 2030.

A crane loads cargo at Tien Sa Port’s container yard in Da Nang. The city plans to develop a logistics complex with total investment of 620 million US$. — VNS Photo Cong Thanh

The complex will be located in the northwest part of the city on 312ha with total investment of 14 trillion VND (US$620 million).

The decision was announced at the city’s people’s council meeting in July. Da Nang’s complex will include a series of logistics centres linked by a system of roads and rail lines. The major nodes in the complex will be the newly designed Lien Chieu deep-sea port, Hoa Nhon; the newly built Kim Lien railway station; an airport and hi-tech park with international-standard warehouses; an inland clearance depot railway and entry point to road connections.

Vice chairman of the city’s People’s Committee Dang Viet Dung said the city intended to build the Lien Chieu port as a key entry point into logistics chains providing services for the central and central Highlands regions, as well as the import-export exchange among ASEAN partners via the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) that links Viet Nam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.

“We aim to build up Da Nang as a regional logistics centre to meet import and export needs among domestic and foreign direct investment enterprises. Partners in ASEAN could boost trading with Vietnamese businesses along the EWEC transport system and via Da Nang ports,” Dung said.

“The logistics complex will provide 50 per cent of logistics services via the airport and sea ports and 40% via the railway system by 2050,” he said.

He added that a single railway line will be built to connect the Kim Lien cargo railway station with the airport cargo logistics and high-tech park. A road system will link the National Highway No 1 with Lien Chieu port.

General director of Da Nang Port JSC Nguyen Huu Sia said the city has potential to develop into a key logistics centre of Viet Nam, and ASEAN in general.

“The city is situated in Central Viet Nam and at convenient cross-roads of the railway and road system as well as the airport. It sits at the end of the EWEC and near the complexes of industrial parks and economic zones in Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Quang Tri provinces,” Sia said.

‘The city also has a deep-sea port system and well-invested infrastructure in connection with the newly-built Da Nang-Quang Ngai Expressway, the north-south national highway and railway system,” he added.

He said the sea port system, which was designed for handling 12 million tonnes of cargo each year, currently hosts 23 cargo ships from 15 shipping agencies from Europe, the US, Hong Kong and Singapore per week.

Tien Sa Port alone could allow access to 70,000DWT (deadweight tonnage) ships, 4,000TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) container ships and 150GT (gross tonnage) cruise ships, he added.

Sia said the city’s port system, including Tien Sa, Lien Chieu and Son Tra, would handle 29 million tonnes of cargo by 2030, while the port’s warehouse could accommodate 500 TEU.

As planned, the city will upgrade Lien Chieu port as an integrated port to ease the overloading at Tien Sa – which will handle mainly cruise ships and fewer cargo ships. Lien Chieu is scheduled to begin operation as a cargo port in 2022.

Sia, however, said that one major challenge was the poor quality of some 1,450km of roads on the EWEC transport corridor. This meant cargo transported via the road system to the Da Nang Port was limited.

According to a report, only 3 per cent of cargo from the EWEC is cleared via the Da Nang Port, while tourism linkages between Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Viet Nam are not yet strong.

According to the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), smoother traffic and procedures on the 1,450km road of EWEC will help Da Nang boost its Regional Gross Domestic Products by 2.29 per cent more than current projections for 2025.

(Source: VNS/ DA NANG Today)