Gateway advantage creates strong potential for Lang Son's logistics sector

On the morning of July 9, 2026, at the Lang Son Department of Industry and Trade, Agency of Foreign Trade (Ministry of Industry and Trade) held a working session with the province's departments, sectors and enterprises to assess the implementation of Decision No. 2229/QD-TTg dated October 9, 2025 of the Prime Minister on the Strategy for Vietnam's Logistics Service Development for the 2025-2035 period, with a vision toward 2050.

The working delegation was led by Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Agency of Foreign Trade. Also attending were representatives of the Agency for Domestic Market Surveillance and Development, the Vietnam Logistics Business Association and the Vietnam Association for Logistics Human Resources Development, together with leaders of the province's departments and sectors, the Management Board of Dong Dang - Lang Son Border-Gate Economic Zone, Customs Sub-Department Region VI, and numerous enterprises operating in the fields of import-export and logistics in the province.

According to a report from the Lang Son Department of Industry and Trade, in the first six months of 2026 total import-export turnover of goods through the province reached USD 57.69 billion, up 42% year on year, while the total number of vehicles carrying import-export goods reached 322,845 trips, up 18%, averaging about 1,850 vehicles a day. These figures continue to affirm Lang Son's role as an important trading gateway between Vietnam and China as well as the ASEAN region.

At the session, Tran Thanh Hai assessed that Lang Son has many advantages for developing logistics thanks to its system of border gates, its geographical location and the growth rate of border trade.

"This is clearly a strength that we need to continue to promote, and we cannot be satisfied with the current results. The current results are commendable, but in terms of sustainability and long-term growth, intervention is clearly needed, first and foremost from policy-making agencies as well as state management agencies," Tran Thanh Hai stressed.

According to the deputy director of Agency of Foreign Trade, infrastructure is the foundation of logistics development. Although Lang Son does not have the advantage of air or waterway transport, it does have a system of road and rail transport and, in particular, the largest system of border gates along the northern border.

Over the next five to ten years, logistics infrastructure will continue to be identified as a key factor in enhancing Lang Son's competitiveness. However, alongside investment in border gate systems, warehouses and large-scale logistics centers, planning needs to go one step ahead, keeping pace with the trend toward smart logistics and the application of technology and digital transformation to improve cargo-handling capacity, rather than simply expanding warehouse space in the traditional way.

Reporting at the session, Hoang Khanh Duy, Deputy Director of the Lang Son Department of Industry and Trade, said the province continues to identify logistics and the border-gate economy as driving sectors, focusing on developing them in a modern, synchronous and smart direction. Priority is given to developing logistics services, cross-border transport, warehousing, cold storage, bonded warehouses, cargo transshipment and trade-support services, gradually forming logistics functional zones linked to border gates, industrial parks and free trade zones.

Under the plan, by 2030 Lang Son aims to have logistics services contribute about 2.8-3% of GRDP, achieve growth of about 12% a year, have over 70% of enterprises using outsourced logistics services, and form a modern logistics infrastructure system linked to smart border gates and dry ports in the province.

Removing infrastructure and digital transformation bottlenecks

Alongside the results achieved, many opinions at the session also pointed to a number of bottlenecks affecting the development of local logistics.

A representative of the Management Board of Dong Dang - Lang Son Border-Gate Economic Zone said that although infrastructure at a number of border gates such as Binh Nghi and Chi Ma has been invested in fairly synchronously, many institutional obstacles remain. "At present, Binh Nghi border gate has also been synchronously invested in, from the inspection house to four yards, one of which covers an area of over 20 hectares. However, there is no customs clearance route, which is also a shortcoming," the representative of the Management Board of Dong Dang - Lang Son Border-Gate Economic Zone noted, recommending that ministries and sectors continue to support the removal of obstacles in customs clearance mechanisms, so as to create conditions for the efficient use of infrastructure that has already been invested in.

A representative of Customs Sub-Department Region VI said that while Lang Son's import-export growth rate is very high, logistics services have so far mainly developed in the areas of warehousing, loading and unloading, and transport, while integrated logistics services, customs brokerage and full-package service chains still have considerable room to grow. At present, only about 7-10% of enterprises complete customs declarations in Lang Son, indicating that the potential for expanding value-added logistics services remains very large.

Digital transformation was identified as one of the important drivers for improving the efficiency of logistics operations. Building smart border gates requires not only investment in technical infrastructure but also synchronization of data infrastructure, ensuring connectivity and information-sharing between domestic authorities as well as with the Chinese side. This is considered a key factor in shortening customs clearance times, cutting logistics costs and gradually realizing the "single-stop" model in import-export operations.

Alongside this, Agency of Foreign Trade is building a national logistics database, integrating information on statistics, market forecasts, sources of goods, freight rates and various other specialized data. Once completed, the system will help improve the efficiency of state management, while also helping enterprises exploit information to develop production and business plans and organize their supply chains more effectively. Connecting and sharing data from localities, including Lang Son, will be one of the important conditions for the database to prove effective in practice.

Concluding the working session, Tran Thanh Hai stressed that the ultimate goal is not merely to issue plans or strategies but to turn logistics into a spearhead economic sector through specific actions such as finalizing planning, developing infrastructure, promoting digital transformation, attracting investment and creating favorable conditions for enterprises to grow, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of the national logistics chain.

Developing logistics requires a synchronous approach, from planning, transport infrastructure and border gates to digital transformation, data-sharing and the development of value-added logistics services. Once these factors are effectively connected, Lang Son's gateway advantage will be turned into a growth driver, not only for the province itself but also for import-export activities across the whole northern region.