"The management of road transport remained outdated and decentralised, which failed to ensure the quality of service, traffic safety, as well as healthy competition among providers" said Nguyen Van Quyen. — File Photo

HA NOI (VNS) — A transport e-commerce market place that enables all major stakeholders in the freight transport business to easily link up is expected to be begin its initial operating period in 2016.

Nguyen Van Quyen, Directorate for Roads of Viet Nam (DRVN) Deputy General Director, was quoted by Transport newspaper as saying that the formation of the online transport market aimed to create a breakthrough to enhance the economy's competitiveness, as transparency was expected to be enhanced and transport fees lowered.

Quyen said the pilot implementation of the online transport market was approved by the transport ministry, adding that the legal framework, along with management software, were being developed.

Following the roadmap, the transport market would become operational at the beginning of next year, Quyen added.

The platform was planned to be built for operation in major transport centres, such as Ha Noi, HCM City, Hai Phong, Da Nang and Can Tho.

Quyen said that management of road transport remained outdated and decentralised, which failed to ensure the quality of service, traffic safety, as well as healthy competition among providers.

The formation of transport market places would help tackle these problems.

Do Cong Thuy, Deputy Director of DRVA's Transport Department, said the transport market place was an e-commerce platform that connected all stakeholders in the freight transport business, including logistics service providers and customers.

"Freight transport firms which join the market place must be checked in terms of capacity, prestige and commitments," Thuy said.

The platform would enable transport firms to connect with each other to prevent their returning from deliveries with empty trucks, which was expected to help lower fees.

Sharing Thailand's experiences at a recent conference held by DRVN, Rutth Banmyong from Thammasat University noted that the transport marketplace was founded in Thailand in 2006 to resolve a problem in which up to 66 per cent of freight trains ran empty on their returns from delivering cargo.

Freight transport demands and logistics information of service providers would be available in the market place for selection and negotiations to optimise freight transport efficiencies, which would benefit all parties, according to Banmyong.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Thanh, president of Viet Nam Automobile Transport Association, said the transport market place would help prevent unhealthy competition among logistics service providers. — VNS