FedEx expands Vietnam service

MANILA, Philippines — Bilateral trade between the Philippines and Vietnam is expected to improve with the introduction of an additional flight servicing the Asian market from courier giant FedEx Express.

In an advisory, FedEx announced that it added a new flight linking Ho Chi Minh with the Asian and European markets to bolster and speed up goods exchange.

The flight operates four times a week and can deliver cargoes to Asia in one business day and to Europe in two business days.

FedEx said it assigned a Boeing 767 to service the new flight from Ho Chi Minh.

The freighter makes direct connections to Asian destinations and stops by the FedEx Asia Pacific hub, located in Guangzhou, China, to drop its shipments bound for Europe.

FedEx believes that intra-Asia trade stands to gain from the expansion of its network. The addition of a new flight also benefits Asian markets trying to boost their exports through free trade agreements (FTA) like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Both the Philippines and Vietnam are signatories to the RCEP, considered as the world’s largest FTA, as the deal covers roughly 30 percent of the global economy and population.

FedEx Philippines managing director Maribeth Espinosa said the introduction of a new flight out of Ho Chi Minh speeds up the flow of shipments from Vietnam to the Philippines.

“The improved transit time from Vietnam to the Philippines will support the growth in the trade volumes between both markets,” Espinosa said.

Espinosa said that RCEP’s entry into force in 2022 drove investors to look at Southeast Asia as a potential site for their expansion facilities.

With this, FedEx projects trade activity in the region to increase over time, demanding an improvement in logistics capacity.

Bilateral trade between the Philippines and Vietnam grew by 15 percent to $7.8 billion last year. In general, Southeast Asia is expected to become a trade powerhouse down the line, especially as several countries in the region are also signatories to other FTAs, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

In Asia and the Pacific, FedEx operates flights for cargo purposes out of its hubs in Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh and Singapore.

“The continuous rollout of enhanced and differentiated FedEx solutions should enable Philippine businesses to access more import and export opportunities,” Espinosa said.