Transport corporation

Protests are taking place in Karnataka against the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. The bandh call has led to the arrest of over 50 people, and the police have designated Freedom Park as the sanctioned location for protests in Bengaluru. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation buses are operational, but fewer people are using them due to the bandh. The government has assured that the buses will continue to run.

Logistics groups go green to add to net-zero goals, source: DHL Express

DHL Express on September 19 onboarded Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) to its GoGreen Plus service to reduce carbon emissions for its time-definite international shipments through the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

By investing in GoGreen Plus, it is estimated that ACB will be able to reduce 14 tonnes worth of total CO2 emissions within a 12-month period.

The entire process is verified annually by an independent third-party agency. In addition, a complementary carbon footprint report will be updated monthly, detailing ACB’s overall emissions with DHL Express.

Bernardo Bautista, general director and country manager for DHL Express Vietnam, said that the company believed that corporate social responsibility and business success go hand-in-hand.

“Global sustainability and environmental protection are important for all of us, including our customers. With SAF as our key lever to effectively reduce carbon emissions, DHL Express is proud to be the first global express courier to enable our customers to do so,” Bautista said.

DHL Group is committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and is investing €7 billion ($7.45 billion) in carbon emissions reduction initiatives before 2030.

With approximately 90 per cent of its carbon footprint derived from the air network, viable and sustainable air transport solutions are important for creating cleaner and greener logistics operations.

Also on September 19, Frasers Property Vietnam (FPV) and GELEX Group jointly broke ground for the Industrial Centre YP2C in the northern province of Bac Ninh, which is expected to be completed in 2024.

The centre will be designed to meet LEED certification standards with strong sustainability and technology features aimed to support workplace productivity as well as the health and wellbeing of occupiers. These include the use of construction materials in the project which prioritise natural light, promoting energy efficiency, and the enhancement of building life-cycle impact reduction.

FPV takes a long-term view for its projects and has committed to green-certify its owned and asset-managed properties as part of its sustainability goals. Its Eco Logistics Centre, a ready-built warehouse development, recently obtained LEED certification, while Binh Duong Industrial Park, the company’s first industrial development in Vietnam, is also on track to receive certification.

Meanwhile, Tan Cang-Cat Lai in Ho Chi Minh City is the first port in Vietnam to be classified as green by the APEC Port Service Network Council. In order to reduce pollution and traffic congestion, 80 per cent of freight transport between the Cai Mep-Thi Vai seaport complex and the surrounding area with Saigon Newport is currently carried out by barges instead of trucks.

According to a report by the Vietnam Association of Logistics Services Enterprises, the industry has seen significant growth over the past 10 years, with an average annual growth rate of 14-16 per cent. The scale of the entire industry has reached $40-42 billion per cent per year.

Vinamarine believes a hike in container handling fees takes regional competitiveness into account, photo Le Toan

The Vietnam Maritime Administration (Vinamarine), under the Ministry of Transport, has proposed an increase of 10-20 per cent in container handling fees at seaports. The draft circular aims to replace Circular No.54/2018/TT-BGTVT on the charge bracket for pilotage, wharf, dock, and mooring buoy utilisation, container handling, and towage services at Vietnamese seaports.

Vinamarine has sought feedback since the beginning of September. “It is suitable and essential to adjust the container handling fees by 10-20 per cent to ensure reinvestment capital for ports and upgrade service quality,” it noted.

Vinamarine’s statistics indicated that the loading and unloading fees at deep-water seaports in Vietnam are equal to 59 per cent of those in ASEAN and surrounding countries, and 85 per cent of those at the Phnom Penh port in Cambodia, an inland port with a lower investment value.

According to Vinamarine, the service quality of Vietnam’s deepwater seaports is on par with that of regional peers. If the fees were raised too high, it would spur wide fluctuations in prices, affecting shippers’ expenses and import-export activities.

“Despite a 10 per cent increase after adjustment, service fees in these two areas are still 30-35 per cent lower than the average price in the region. Therefore, Vietnamese ports will not lose competitiveness compared to elsewhere,” it added.

However, many companies are concerned that this proposal will be applied to most seaports. Container handling fees will experience an increase from the previous fees, which were put in place in 2019. Some deepwater seaports that have a capacity to accommodate container ships of 160,000DWT are also subject to the increase of 10 per cent. As a result, the actual floor prices for container handling services will climb 20 per cent.

An SSI Research report pointed out that small-scale ports such as Hai An Transport and Stevedoring JSC will not benefit from this policy given that most of its throughput is local goods. In addition, ports in the northern city of Haiphong are listing container handling services at prices higher than the floor price of the revised draft. Therefore, the impact of this policy may not be obvious on the financial performance of the ports in Haiphong.

If the circular is approved and applied in 2024, SSI Research believes that the proposed new floor price could have a positive impact in the short term for some ports and “not positive” for some other ports, depending on their operating capacity. In the long term, the industry’s freight prices will depend on the balance of supply and demand.

Therefore, freight rates will increase and decrease accordingly in good and bad years for shipping lines. Currently, many shipping lines record losses for freight rates, so ports will have more difficulty negotiating contract prices with customers compared to 2021-2022.

Meanwhile, Phan Thong, general secretary of the Vietnam Shippers’ Council, said there is no guarantee that port management companies will stop at this increase.

“In the future, they are likely to raise fees to ensure profit margins,” Thong said. “It is appropriate to raise the floor prices for container handling services in the current context. However, state management agencies need to monitor the fee increase to avoid a logistics cost hike and affecting export-import activities.”

The council has yet to calculate the impact of the fee increase on shippers if the new policy is approved.

According to the latest report by SSI Research, the total container throughput in Vietnam’s international ports in the first seven months of 2023 reached 9.1 million TEUs, down 8 per cent on-year.

There are differences between regions. In the north, the total container throughput experienced a slight decrease of 5.7 per cent to 3.4 million TEUs, thanks to less negative activities in the Chinese and intra-Asian markets.

The Cai Mep-Thi Vai seaport complex in the south recorded a 14 per cent decrease in throughput in the first seven months of 2023, likely as it has more activity with the US and European markets.

Analysts at SSI Research said there may be inconsistency between the policies and the market in practice. “Raising floor prices will lead to an increase of 6-7 per cent at conventional transshipment ports and more than 10 per cent at deepwater seaports. It will increase the profit margin and net profit of these ports,” they said.

At the same time, this policy will benefit most listed port operators, such as Gemadept, Vietnam Container, Dinh Vu Port, Haiphong Port, and other unlisted port companies, such as Saigon Newport and VIMC, they added.

Pham Quoc Long, chairman of the Association of Agents, Brokers, and Maritime Services, said, “A roadmap to adjust container loading and unloading floor prices is necessary. Initially, it is suitable to increase container handling fees by 10 per cent in large port areas and deepwater seaports so that they can make adjustments.”

More time is still needed for the Ministry of Transport to consider and decide on promulgation, Long added. “However, this draft circular can be seen as a positive signal for seaports. Vietnam boasts a competitive advantage when the country’s seaports can accommodate large tonnage container ships.”

Winners of the 2023 IR Awards as voted by financial institutions in the large capitalisation stock category at a ceremony in HCM City on September 28. — Photo of the organisers

Fourteen listed companies received the 2023 IR Awards for having the best investor relations at a ceremony in HCM City on September 28.

According to the organizers, the Vietnam Association of Financial Executives, Finance and Life e-magazine (FiLi.vn) and Vietstock (Vietstock.vn), the awards were based on a survey of compliance with information disclosure obligations by all 731 companies listed on the HCM City and Hanoi stock exchanges, and 364 of them had complied with all.

Then, based on criteria such as liquidity, foreign investment, compliance in terms of financial transparency, successfully conducting the annual general meeting, corporate governance regulations, treasury stock and internal shareholder transactions, and filing ESG reports, 45 were nominated.

In the final round, they were divided into three groups based on size (large, medium and small, and micro cap) and went through a rigorous assessment by 33 leading financial institutions and voting by investors to find three winners in each category.

The top three voted by investors were Vietinbank, FPT Corporation, and MB Bank (large-cap); Viettel Construction Corporation, Digital World Corporation and FPT Digital Retail JSC (mid-cap); Tiên Sơn Thanh Hóa Group JSC, AAV Group JSC and Hà Nội Plastics JSC (small and micro-cap).

The top three chosen by financial institutions were FPT Corporation, Techcombank, and Vinhomes JSC (large-cap); Digital World Co Ltd, FPT Digital Retail JSC, and PetroVietnam Transports Corporation (mid-cap); and AAV Group JSC, Hà Nội Plastics JSC, and Phục Hưng Holding Construction JSC (small and micro-cap).

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Nguyễn Như Hùng, editor-in-chief of Fili.vn, said: “The IR Awards, in their 13th year now, seek to raise awareness in the business community about the role and importance of investor relations, promote information transparency in the stock market and improve the quality of information and investor confidence in the stock market.”

The winning companies met the stringent standards set for information disclosure, provided financial information transparently, had effective communication with the financial and investment communities, and have IR activities that help optimise business value.

Nguyễn Hoàng Linh, head of research at Vietcombank Fund Management, said companies need to pay more attention to their websites and treat investors equally, regardless of size, be open and well prepared to answer questions from investors, and ensure regular connectivity between top management and investors, he said.

He also recommended that firms should take advantage of social media to stay connected with investors.

Lê Hồng Liên, senior director of investor relations at Techcombank, said investors are paying increasing attention to ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance).

Firms need to adopt these factors in their operation to achieve sustainable development and create long-term value for business and society.

Mathew Smith, head of research at Yuanta Vietnam, said IR is a vital factor in maximising stakeholder value, especially in the current uncertain environment.

Investor relations is a process, not a one-time event, and should not pause when bad things happen, he warned.

Investors appreciate companies with information transparency and are willing to pay a premium for those with excellent IR activities, he added. — VNS

Last week, Hanoi police determined that the cause of the mini apartment fire in Hanoi that killed 56 people and injured dozens was an electrical short circuit on a gasonline-engine motorbike. The information dispelled rumours that the cause of the fire was a fault in an e-bike.

However in recent days, as a result of the rumours, owners of all types of buildings in the city introduced rules to limit the charging of e-bikes in basements and centralised parking areas. Some localities even issued a document prohibiting the charging of electric vehicle (EV) batteries in apartment basements.

Added spark wanted for EV charge stations, illustration photo

27-year-old Nguyen Huong Giang, a resident of Thanh Xuan district in Hanoi complained, “The building owners and their management boards agreed that there are no EVs allowed, and no-one is allowed to recharge in the building. So where can I park my e-bike and how can I charge it?”

There are many others like Giang. On a Vietnam EV community forum of 58,000 members, many owners believe they are being forced into a corner. “Electric cars are a fairly new trend here and people often do not fully understand them. So these vehicles are often blamed if a fire incident occurs,” said Vu Ngoc Khiem, chairman of the University of Transport Technology. “The energy transition and the use of EVs to replace vehicles with internal combustion engines is an inevitable trend and a commitment of the government.”

This is not the first time that EVs have been wrongly blamed for causing fires or explosions. Still, experts said that these vehicles are not at all flammable as many people mistakenly believe, and the risk of fire and explosion in petrol vehicles is likely to be higher due to the engines inside.

“Personally, I support tightened management in apartment buildings for EV charging to ensure safety, but it must be coupled with proper solutions,” said Giang from Thanh Xuan district. “Apartment buildings should arrange separate charging areas for these types of vehicles, with 24/7 supervision and charging fees as well as storage fees.”

Infrastructure pressures

The fire incident, despite not being caused by EVs, has nevertheless highlighted the challenges for Vietnam in ensuring it can withstand the pressure of widescale use of a new type of vehicle in the long term.

According to the Ministry of Transport (MoT), at the end of 2022 the country had almost 7,800 e-cars on the road. Since the beginning of 2023, that number has increased to almost 12,300 units. To ride on the wave of acceptance, a series of domestic manufacturers and assemblers such as TMT Motor, THACO, and TC Motor, and foreign names like Wuling, Haima, Haval, and Zhidou launched the first EV products in Vietnam. Meanwhile, by the end of 2022, the country had nearly two million registered e-bikes, up 30-35 per cent compared to 2021.

According to the government’s plan, by 2040 all petrol motorbike production will stop. Along with EV manufacturers such as Son Ha, Pega, and VinFast, foreign-invested businesses in the motor industry in Vietnam that specialised petrol vehicles have also been promoting products in the e-bike segment such as SYM, Honda, Yamaha, and Piaggio.

However, the development of charging station infrastructure in Vietnam is currently behind the curve. Only VinFast owns charging ports in each locality of the country, at around 150,000 installations nationwide.

VinFast has also said in recent times that it will not share charging station infrastructure with competitors for at least the next 10 years.

A number of energy industry enterprises have begun implementing projects to build and install charging stations and charging ports to serve the needs of individuals and businesses. However, the scale of these projects is still deemed inadequate.

In August, Vietnam Kwang Yang Motor Co., Ltd. announced plans to launch a number of e-bike models in the Vietnamese market and build a system of public charging stations in the southern province of Binh Duong. At the time, it asked questions on the government information portal about installing EV charging stations in Vietnam. “Regulations in Vietnam on installing EV charging stations are still limited, so we have encountered many difficulties in understanding the related processes,” the firm said.

Tran Anh Tung, business administration head at the Ho Chi Minh University of Economics and Finance, said that building a public charging station required a large initial investment, including purchasing equipment, building infrastructure, and connecting to the power grid.

“Charging fees, managing money recovery, finding suitable land for the stations, and getting construction permits in the first place are all major challenges,” Tung said.

Standards for safety

According to the Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality under the Ministry of Science and Technology, there are a number of regulations on charging posts, electrical safety, and fire prevention, but there is still a lack of standards on installation, operation, and electricity measurement at stations.

Current EV charging stations operate based on national technical standards including standards on connecting EVs to power sources, DC charging stations, and requirements of electromagnetic compatibility of chargers installed on EVs.

Doan Van Hien, managing director of Electrification Business at ABB Vietnam, said that there are many chargers available in the Vietnamese market.

“However, the lack of standards on testing and evaluating the quality of such chargers is one of the major difficulties in ensuring charging safety. The government should issue specific standards and regulations for EV charging soon so that Vietnam’s charging infrastructure system can be developed in the right direction and safety,” Hien said.

At present, there is a standard for EV charging (IEC 61851), which is widely accepted and applied in European countries. The application of this standard is also one of the viable solutions to develop a standard for Vietnam, along with some supplements and adjustments. Chargers must be installed in a well-ventilated place, convenient for fire prevention and fighting, Hien emphasised.

“Moreover, the power supply for the charger also needs to operate stably and safely. Medium and low voltage equipment, stations, and switchboards must have a coordinated protection function according to IEC standards to achieve protection requirements for overloads, interruption, and other incidents,” he added.

To ensure safe charging, consumers should choose a charger from reputable manufacturers, especially international names, or use ones that are manufactured and licensed for use in many other countries, Hien suggested.

Additionally, demands on charging stations are becoming increasingly urgent. Nguyen Ngoc Cuong, CEO of station infrastructure company EverEV JSC, stated that Vietnamese businesses are fully capable of manufacturing and installing charging stations.

“However, there is currently no domestic supplier, and we have to work with foreign vendors. Therefore, support and incentives for the production and import of equipment and components to build charging stations are essential,” Cuong said.

Khiem of the University of Transport Technology said that no apartment building can withstand hundreds of vehicles charging at the same time. Therefore, arranging top-quality public charging stations, with attendants and fees, is a practical solution.

“In the long term, localities such as Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City need to research and stipulate that each district or ward must arrange space and build public charging points for e-bikes meeting the high standard and ensure the safety,” he said.