The East Sea is part of the shipping route connecting the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, playing an important role in the maritime trade of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and globally. Therefore, countries in Southeast Asia are promoting the development of seaports and road transportation systems to leverage their advantages and drive the growth of the logistics industry.

Singapore has been rated as the best logistics center in Asia by the World Bank and ranks first among 155 countries. Currently, it is a global center for trade, transactions, and freight transportation. The shipping and logistics service industry contributes 34% to the value of the service sector and approximately 20% to Singapore’s economy. In particular, by 2040, the world’s largest automated container terminal in Singapore, with an annual handling capacity of 65 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), will be completed.

Indonesia is the largest digital economy in Southeast Asia. It is expected that by 2025, it will account for 50% of all e-commerce transactions in Southeast Asia. Due to the sudden development of e-commerce, it has driven the development of logistics services. The Indonesian government plans to establish a National Logistics Ecosystem (NLE) for 14 seaports and airports to accelerate the development of the logistics industry.

Vietnam is a pioneering country in the region that has synchronously planned its seaport system to serve maritime trade. According to the Vietnam Maritime Administration, there are currently 286 ports across the country, with a total wharf length of 96 kilometers and an average annual total throughput of 700 million tons. In terms of the scale of shipping compared with other Southeast Asian countries, Vietnam ranks only behind Malaysia and Singapore.

At the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26), the Vietnamese government identified logistics as an important service industry in the overall structure of the national economy. It is promoting an energy transition in a green and sustainable direction and developing the logistics industry with a focus on environmental protection while saving and using energy effectively.

Economic, trade, and connectivity are important priorities for ASEAN member states – the countries in Southeast Asia. The increasing development of internal and external transportation and trade has formed the effect of “scale economic development” in the region. Among them, promoting the development of the logistics industry is committed to making the economies of Southeast Asian countries more prosperous.