Therefore, many questions are raised as to why the enterprise has not gone by sea before and now can it be switched to sea?

Sorting carrot products at Hung Viet Agricultural Products Joint Stock Company in Gia Loc district, Hai Duong province. Illustration: Vu Sinh/VNA

Struggling to find the way

Explaining this problem, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai - Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said that road transport is still considered the most flexible and mobile mode of transport. Therefore, businesses and traders still choose the road to bring goods to the border.

After 2-3 days of transportation, if there are no difficulties, the trucks loaded with agricultural products can go straight through the border gate and deliver the goods to their partners and then return. In the case of no congestion, a watermelon truck after being sold, minus transportation costs, can still collect hundreds of millions of dong. That is not to mention the higher value fruits such as dragon fruit, mango, jackfruit.

However, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai also pointed out the disadvantages of land transactions. For example, the capacity is limited, so it is easy to cause congestion, even when the fruit is not in the main season. Besides trucks carrying agricultural products, there are many other types of goods that also travel by road. Therefore, when there is a local congestion, industrial and mineral products can all wait, but agricultural products cannot.

“Every day that passes is a day of degraded agricultural products, facing the pressure of consumption and disposal. It is also at these times that businesses think about other modes of transport, "emphasized Mr. Tran Thanh Hai.

In addition, informal export always brings unusual risks because this is only a form of trade managed by local authorities across the border. Moreover, China also has a policy of narrowing quotas, so it has closed many openings and even built fences along the border to limit residents' passage and trade.

Shift in export

Statistics of the Maritime Administration show that there are about 30 airlines operating routes from Vietnam to China, but the number is different. Not only Asian shipping lines such as: Cosco, SITC, CUL, SJS (China), Yang Ming, Wan Hai, Evergreen of Taiwan (China), Heung-A, Sinokor, CK Line, KMTC ( Korea) but also has shipping lines from Europe such as: SeaLand (a branch of Maersk), CNC (CMA CGM), ZIM, ...

Mr. Tran Thanh Hai said that, in terms of geographical area, there is a difference between the North and the South's agricultural exports by sea. Because, the North mainly exports vegetables such as cabbage, carrots, peppers... which are seasonal agricultural products. The South mainly exports fruits and goods all year round.

So, if in November 2021 there were about 1,400 refrigerated containers going from Ho Chi Minh City to China, but in December there were 4,100 containers. This shows that there has been a big shift in the export of agricultural products by sea in recent years.

However, according to Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, not all agricultural products must use refrigerated containers. When transporting reefer containers by sea, the container requires an electrical outlet to maintain the cold.

Furthermore, each container ship can only have a maximum of 20% of the space on board with a reefer socket. Therefore, if the demand for transporting agricultural products is unexpectedly high, even if there is a ship, it is unlikely that the ship owner can receive transportation.

In particular, Vietnam is an agricultural product powerhouse with a large volume of agricultural products including aquatic products, so there is a high demand for refrigerated containers for packing. However, the amount of imported goods in refrigerated containers is quite small, mainly some fruits, meat and aquatic materials, leading to an imbalance in refrigerated containers.

In addition, if they want to bring refrigerated containers to serve Vietnamese shippers, shipping lines must transport empty refrigerated containers from abroad, incurring additional container unbalance charges (CIC).

Pointing out the inadequacies, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai said that with the unplanned and erratic way of working, when the road is congested, businesses flock to the sea. That is not to mention the number of containers and the number of seats on the ship, which has been very stressful due to the impact of COVID-19 from the end of 2020 until now.

According to the Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), banana is currently the commodity with the highest output and export value after dragon fruit, but the cry for support for banana consumption has not been heard. That's because bananas are now exported to many markets, not only China, and most of them go by sea.

The good news is that before the frustrations of agricultural businesses, Vietnamese shipping lines have also started to step in. The Vietnam National Shipping Lines Corporation plans to bring two 600-TEU ships here to run the Hai Phong - Kham Chau route, twice a week, each with 90 refrigerated container sockets.

In addition, Hai An is also actively promoting procedures to be able to open the Hai Phong - Nam Sa route right in February, expected to be 1 trip/week, using 1,500 TEU ships with 150 sockets. After that, the airline will open a tangent Vung Ang - Kham Chau with a frequency of 2 flights/week, using 800 TEU ships with 150 sockets.

Vietnam and China are both located on the world's busiest maritime route, the geographical distance between the ports is quite close while the demand for goods exchange between the two countries is continuously increasing. Therefore, this is a favorable opportunity for Vietnam's small shipping lines to participate in exploiting and developing fleets in the near future.

Transformation from mindset

Commenting on this issue, experts say that, besides names like Vina T&T, Chanh Thu, Rong Do, Nafoods, Ameii, Bagico, Doveco, Hoang Hau, Visimex that have been mentioned by the media, there are also Small businesses still do it quietly, but not many people know about it.

For example, logistics enterprises specializing in serving agricultural products such as CMU Logistics, Hoang Ha, Thilogi and smart warehouses dedicated to agricultural products such as CASS.

An enterprise also shared that agricultural products are daily consumption goods, and China is a market of 1.4 billion people, which is the dream of many agricultural exporting countries.

Vietnam is blessed with a wide variety of agricultural products by nature, which is both rich in types and abundant in quantity, and has the advantage of being close to China. It is important to have your own initiative, not to let traders across the border lead you.

This means that businesses need to soon switch to official status, although it is not something that can be done overnight, but is a sustainable and long-term way.

Sharing the same view, the business representative also affirmed: China is no longer an easy market, when agricultural products, whether traveling by land, sea, rail, or air, must meet safety standards. Food safety, phytosanitary, traceability.

On the other hand, the new Orders 248 and 249, which took effect from the beginning of this year, set forth more regulations on business registration and exports to China. However, it is the same regulations that will force businesses to do business more orderly, right from production, trade to logistics.

According to Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, this is not just a change in the mode of transport, but first of all, it is a change of thinking, a change of the inherent habits ingrained in the thoughts of many gardeners, barn owners, traders and entrepreneurs. Karma.

Not that businesses, traders do not know the risks of small-scale export, but they are afraid to change and get used to selling goods within a week to receive money immediately.

Moreover, businesses do not know what to do if they change, where to start... or they may lack motivation and pressure to force change.

So, how many businesses, traders, barn owners, gardeners after this wave will think of recruiting professional salespeople who can find new customers located deep in the continent instead of the border area? gender.

Along with that, how many businesses will think of hiring a logistics business to advise and help with chartering services, customs clearance, buying insurance... for future shipments.

“It will be difficult, if we keep the old way of thinking. But if businesses have the determination to change, with the support of the authorities and associations, the answer is within reach", Mr. Tran Thanh Hai affirmed.