A different perspective on Vietnam’s economy and doing business in Vietnam. Make sure to  subscribe.

Category: Transport & Infrastructure Vietnam

Vietnam is becoming a powerhouse for business and enterprise and this has led to huge demand for transportation services. From roads to rail to ships to aeroplanes there are a multitude of ways of moving people and products around Vietnam

This section covers: aviation, shipping, and road and rail transport and associated services.

Korea’s Daewoo looking at making cars in Vietnam

Vietnam’s automotive industry is huge but dominated by motorcycles. That said, cars are becoming more popular with just shy of 5 million registered vehicles at the end of 2020. This does, however, represent just 5 percent of the population of 100 million people which means there is plenty of room for car sales to grow…

Read More »

Vietnam Airlines to lease planes to unprofitable budget airline subsidiary

For some context, Pacific Airlines has no planes because it gave them back to its lessor in exchange for having VND 3 trillion or US$118 million worth of debt cancelled. This was months ago and the airline hasn’t run a passenger flight since. With this in mind, it’s difficult to see any organisation other than Vietnam Airlines leasing aircraft to Pacific Airlines moving forward which could limit the airlines growth. 

Read More »

Hitachi is suing in Vietnam over Ho Chi Minh City metro delays

Issues with site clearance and delayed payments to contractors have caused repeated delays to the metro project which was originally scheduled to start operating in 2018. This is common among infrastructure projects in Vietnam and is in large part caused by a significant mismatch in the value of land versus what is offered to landowners. This stems from land price regulations which sees the central base price from which local land prices are calculated adjusted only once every five years…

Read More »

Vietnam electric vehicle maker’s US factory possibly delayed: Reuters

Work started on the North Carolina right around the same time that VinFast shipped its first electric vehicles to the United States. VinFast’s electric vehicles, however, have not been popular in the US and have received some pretty damning reviews. Furthermore, the company is also being sued for alleged disclosure violations, patent infringement, and unpaid rent, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the US is investigating a car crash in California in which four people died when the VinFast car they were driving crashed into a tree…

Read More »

Ground broken on second terminal at airport in Vietnam capital

For context, at the end of last year, the President of Vietnam Airlines noted that overcrowding at Vietnam’s airports was costing the national carrier US$20 million a year. Indeed, overcrowding has become a huge problem–Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City was built for 28 million visitors a year but welcomed 34 million arrivals in 2022. Similarly, Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport was built for 25 million visitors a year but was expected to finish 2023 with 30 million arrivals.

Read More »

Chinese EV makers looking to expand in Vietnam

One of the side effects of all of the attention Vietnam’s Vinfast has received is that it has exponentially raised awareness of electric vehicles among Vietnamese consumers. Furthermore, there is a lot of status that goes along with owning a car in Vietnam. That said, Vietnam’s GDP per capita is still only around US$4,000 which makes owning a car of any kind challenging for most Vietnamese. In this context, smaller, cheaper Chinese EVs could find a welcome home south of the border.

Read More »

Airlines are making just US$1 per passenger: Vietnam Airlines exec.

The rising price of airfares in Vietnam has been in the news a lot lately. A review of airline ticket prices by the Vietnam Aviation Administration, however, after conducting a brief investigation, earlier this year, found that airfares prices have been within the current guidelines–in Vietnam airfares are regulated by the government.

Read More »

Vietnam Airlines doesn’t want to use HCMC’s new airport

Vietnam’s national carrier, Vietnam Airlines, has said that it would prefer to stay at what is currently Ho Chi Minh City’s only international airport, Tan Son Nhat, when a second airport at Long Thanh is completed. It is essentially arguing that airport transfers will be more challenging–currently, it’s possible to

Read More »

Vietnam airfares investigation finds no price gouging

A review of airline ticket prices by the Vietnam Aviation Administration has found that domestic airlines have not breached pricing regulations. The airfare regulator put out the call last week for consumers who felt they had overpaid for airfares. After a brief investigation, however, they have found that airfares prices

Read More »

Vietnam EV maker North Carolina factory delayed

Vinfast’s planned North Carolina factory has been delayed pending approval of plans for a much smaller factory, The News Observer is reporting. The car marker has not been as successful as it had hoped, hence the smaller factory. It has, however, continued to maintain that the factory will be online

Read More »

Vietnam’s Vinfast first quarter results show little improvement

Vietnam’s Vinfast has continued to haemorrhage money, reporting a loss in the first quarter of 2024 of US$618.3 million, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Key takeaways It delivered 9,689 EVs; This was down from 13,513 in the fourth quarter of 2024; with 50 percent

Read More »

Class action launched against Vietnam’s Vinfast

Three law firms have initiated legal action against Vietnamese electric vehicle maker Vinfast on the grounds that it withheld information from shareholders, according to a press release from US law firm Pomerantz. Specifically, that it would be unable to meet its 2023 delivery target and that it lacked the capital

Read More »

Vietnam’s Airline Industry Turbulence: Unpacked

When Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways first took to the skies in January of 2019, everything was looking up for Vietnam’s airline industry–not only was international tourism flourishing but rising incomes among middle-class Vietnamese were fueling a boom in domestic tourism as well. In fact, the route between Hanoi and Ho Chi

Read More »

Vietnam aviators to be short up to 26 jets over summer: CAAV

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam–the CAAV–is forecasting that Vietnamese airlines could be short up to 26 jets over the summer, VN Express is reporting. This is on the back of maintenance issues with some jet engines. This is impacting airlines all around the world which are scrambling to secure

Read More »

Vietnam’s legal argument for not returning four ex-Vietjet planes

This analysis of a dispute between foreign aircraft lessor, Fitzwalter Capital Partners, and Vietnam’s Vietjet, in which Vietjet failed to return four planes after a lease agreement was terminated, goes into the legal argument for keeping the aircraft in Vietnam. Specifically, the article states that when the ownership of the

Read More »

data sets