Waterway Transportation: Solution for Sustainable Business Development
19/03/2023

Green logistics is becoming increasingly popular in the global transportation industry, with the aim of reducing the impact of logistics activities on the environment, increasing the efficiency of production processes, and enhancing the sustainable competitiveness of businesses. So in Vietnam, which green transportation method brings practical benefits and optimizes sustainable transportation goals?
A Global Trend in Logistics
To minimize negative impacts on the environment and optimize business operations, "Green Logistics" has become a trend in the global transportation industry.
According to experts, green logistics is one of the best methods to create sustainable value in the supply chain by balancing Economic efficiency, Social benefits, and the Environment. These three objectives are not mutually exclusive, but instead reinforce each other. All efforts of green logistics focus on contributing to and ensuring sustainable development.
"Green Logistics" is an essential trend and an important criterion for evaluating the sustainable development of the entire industry and businesses.
Around the world, many countries are aiming to develop green logistics to minimize negative impacts on the environment. Through the 1992 Conference of European Ministers of Transport (ECMT), a recommendation report was issued proposing that member countries of the European Union consider shifting freight transport from road to environmentally friendly modes and increasing the use of inland waterway transportation.
Based on that, European countries are currently investing in advanced technology development projects and increasing the application of green transportation vehicles, such as electric trains/boats, hydrogen-powered vehicles, liquefied gas-powered vehicles, solar-powered boats, and especially waterway transportation vehicles.
Optimizing environmental and economic benefits

- Optimizing logistics cost
- Improving transportation efficiency
- Reducing environmental impacts
- Reducing the burden on the road transport system, avoiding traffic accidents during transportation.
Leveraging the capacity and advantage of the leading enterprise in Vietnam in the field of port exploitation and logistics services, in recent years, SNP has always played a pioneering role in building Green Ports and Green Logistics. With the strategic operation of "bringing the port closer to customers" based on the ecosystem of ports and logistics, SNP has successfully implemented a green transport solution (combining water and land transportation) with the cooperation of Tan Cang Water Transport - a unit managing and operating over 100 barges from 24 TEUs to 198 TEUs, with a total capacity of 9,950 TEUs per trip stretching from North to South:
- The solution to connecting the Southern key area and the Mekong Delta: Providing water transport services by barges from the Cai Mep Port/ Ho Chi Minh City cluster and the Can Tho port system to Cambodia.
- The solution to connecting the Northern key area - the Hai Phong port cluster: Multimodal transportation by combining water and land transportation, linking the Bac Ninh - Hai Phong route with the transshipment point at Tan Cang - Que Vo Dry Port (Bac Ninh) - the center connecting goods between Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Thai Nguyen, Hanoi with seaports in the Hai Phong region.

Support and companionship from government policies
From 1/1/2023, the port infrastructure fee applied to goods entering and leaving the Hai Phong port area by inland waterway vehicles will be reduced by 50% (according to Resolution No. 21/2022/NQ-HDND issued on December 9, 2022 by the Hai Phong City People's Council).
This policy will be a motivation to promote customers' use of inland waterway transportation services, especially in corridor 1 connecting the Hai Phong Port Cluster and Tan Cang - Que Vo Dry Port.