Hanoi (VNA) - Domestic textile enterprises and logistics serviceproviders should work together to reduce costs and improve theircompetitiveness, according to experts.

NguyenTuong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Logistics Association, said the textileindustry needs to import raw materials from abroad and export products toforeign markets.

Workingtogether, many enterprises could purchase raw materials by combining theirorders to create a large shipment, which will help significantly reducetransportation costs, he said.

Thecosts of logistics currently account for nearly one-third of the costs of eachtextile product exported, so the Vietnamese garment sector could save more than1 billion USD per year by reducing this cost.

Additionally,Truong Van Cam, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association,said most textile companies currently perform outsourcing jobs, causing them todepend on the supply of raw materials and transportation services of providersassigned by their partners.

Mostof these providers are foreign companies, thus the market share for locallogistics companies has been narrowed, Cam said.

Further,high transportation costs are undermining the competitiveness of Vietnamesegoods in international markets, he added.

Directorof the Nam Viet Co Ltd, Nguyen Duc Chuong, said that during peak seasons,textile firms have to pay the container imbalance charge (CIC) – a kind of seafreight charge which a carrier requires to offset costs arising from thetransfer of a large amount of empty containers from one place to another.

Thischarge is only affordable to enterprises with large-scale import-export orders,such as Nha Be Corporation or Viet Tien Garment Joint Stock Corporation, but isa heavy burden on small and medium-sized textile firms.

Meanwhile,there is a lack of confidence between the owners of goods and Vietnameselogistics service providers due to low-quality and high prices, saidrepresentative of the Dam San joint stock company, which specialises inproducing fibers.

Locatedin the northern province of Thai Binh, the firm has to spend 3 billion USD to 4billion USD every year on logistics costs.

Self-services

Toimprove the quality of the supply chain and reduce logistics costs, manytextile enterprises have turned towards "self-service".

Arepresentative of the Nha Be Corporation said the corporation has establishedthe NBC logistics company to carry and load goods, and to export and importprocedures for its shipments.

Tofacilitate the transaction, NBC logistics firms also opened a representativeoffice in China’s Shanghai, and many textile enterprises are seeking to hire itto perform export and import services.

Sofar, conducting self-logistics services for approximately 70 percent of theirgoods has helped the corporation save 2 billion USD per year. Previously, ithad to pay 6 billion USD for import-export of goods annually.

However,self-service is still not a solution for small and medium-sized firms.

Therefore,business leaders in the two sectors agreed that it was necessary for theMinistry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Transport to assist thecoordination and connection between shippers and the owners of goods./.