Presenting a paper on the topic of "Developing coastal shipping routes connecting Central Vietnam and the Central Highlands and developing the East-West Economic Corridor" at the forum "Finding breakthrough opportunities for logistics in Central Vietnam and the Central Highlands" held on the afternoon of November 7, 2026, Mr. Le Quang Trung, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Maritime Corporation ( VIMC ), proposed the formation of a type of coastal shipping.
Mr. Trung argued that, in addition to developing large-capacity shipping lines to connect across oceans, it is necessary to develop coastal shipping with a capacity of 300-600 TEU to connect within the bloc, connect within the ASEAN region, and connect ASEAN with the Chinese market.
The reason is that logistics involves connecting overall costs, reducing transit time, and providing direct access to markets; at the same time, with logistics moving towards digitalization, smarter, and greener processes, using coastal shipping is a suitable solution.