A Vietnam Airlines aircraft is parked at Can Tho International Airport. Vietnam Airlines wants to spend almost US$83 million on an aviation logistics center near the airport. (Photo: Trung Chanh)
Pham Viet Hung, deputy head of the national flag carrier’s Investment and Procurement Department, told a meeting on the project today, June 13, that the airline plans to roll out the project in three phases from this year until 2024.
Once completed, the center would house a bonded warehouse, a cargo terminal, a goods distribution center and a warehouse for lease, covering a combined 130,000 square meters.
As Can Tho is in the heart of the Mekong Delta region, it is the ideal location for an aviation logistics center, Hung said.
The Mekong Delta is the country’s largest agricultural production area and has seen growing demand for air cargo transportation, especially for high-value items for export. In 2017, the volume of goods transported from the region through Tan Son Nhat airport in HCMC exceeded 70,000 tons.
In addition, export revenue from aquatic and vegetable products in the region rose by an average of 20% per year during the 2015-2017 period, said Hung.
The aviation logistics center in Can Tho is expected to encourage the growth of logistics activities in the region and concurrently reduce the cargo overload at Tan Son Nhat airport as well as the upcoming Long Thanh airport.
Further, a logistics center should be located inside or next to an airport. It has to be connected to the airport’s cargo terminal and linked with different types of transport infrastructure, such as road, rail and water, Hung added, referencing other aviation logistics centers in the world that are linked to airports.
In response to VNA’s investment plan, Truong Quang Hoai Nam, vice chairman of the Can Tho government, said that many investors had expressed interest in developing the project, including two other local carriers, Vietjet and Bamboo Airways.
However, Nam at the meeting asked local departments and agencies to create favorable conditions for VNA to complete the essential procedures to execute the project.
