Thanaleng Dry Port, Vientiane Logistics Park generate 4.6 billion kip for state budget

The Thanaleng Dry Port (TDP) and Vientiane Logistics Park (VLP) have generated almost 4.6 billion kip in revenue for the state budget over the first quarter of 2022.
TDP Managing Director Sakhone Philangam revealed the figure at a meeting on Tuesday to review the operation of the landmark project over the first three months of this year.

(From second left) Mr Viengkhone Sitthixay and Mr Phouvong Vongkhamxao address the meeting.

The huge amount of revenue was made possible thanks to the convenient and expedited services delivered by the dry port.
Opening for service on December 4, 2021, the dry port and Logistics Park, which are located near the first Laos-Thailand Friendship Bridge in Vientiane and link to the Laos-China railway through a bonded truck service, provide a gateway for freight transit between China and Southeast Asia. Functioning as an international border checkpoint for freight, the dry port and logistics park is an important land port for freight transit, facilitating trade and bolstering socio-economic development.
“The dry port is a new source of revenue for the (state) budget. It reduces logistics costs, thus significantly bolstering foreign investment promotion,” the director told the meeting.
The meeting was attended by the Vice Mayor of Vientiane, Mr Phouvong Vongkhamxao, Vice President of VLP Co., Ltd., Mr Viengkhone Sitthixay, relevant officials and executives of VLP Co., Ltd. 
Over the first four months of this year, the dry port has provided import-export and transit shipment services to 11,092 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), mostly through railways.
Of the total TEUs, 85 percent was import-export via the Laos-China border, 14 percent was import-export through the Laos-Thailand border, and the remaining one percent was shifted directly through Thailand’s and China’s railways.
The project has developed infrastructure, employed modern equipment and convinced the relevant sectors to introduce streamlined regulations to provide cost-effective services aimed at cutting logistics costs.
These include the fact that the dry port operator is working with its counterpart at Kunming’s dry port in China so that business operators using transport services do not have to make guaranteed payments for containers.
In addition, services are being offered to enable shippers whose products do not completely fill a single container to share containers bound for the same destination in order to reduce costs.
Mr Sakhone told the meeting that a railway station to connect the different sized tracks of the Laos-China railway and the Laos-Thailand railway is being built and scheduled for completion in June. Once the station is operational, it will directly connect the two tracks and better facilitate rail transport.
Goods shipped from Southeast Asia via the Laos-China Railway, which connects further to an interconnected rail system, will reach European markets in just over 10 days, much shorter than shipment by sea, which can take more than 40 days.
The developer is optimistic that Laos will become a new global supply chain, thanks to the new cost-effective and fast transport and logistics services.
Mr Sakhone also briefed the meeting on the progress made in developing the project’s investment zones.
The zones to be developed by the project comprise the Thanaleng Dry Port - the centre of international import and export trade with all categories of customs operations; a Tank Farm - a fuel distribution centre for Laos; the Logistics Park - a warehousing and distribution centre; a Free Trade Zone; and an Export Processing Zone.
The meeting also discussed future work to improve the operations and services of the dry port and logistics park. 
The dry port and logistics park are part of the Lao Logistics Link project, and the Lao National Logistics Strategy for 2016-2030, which will boost the government’s efforts to transform Laos from a landlocked to a land-link country.
The dry port and logistics park will also link to Vung Ang Port in Vietnam’s central Ha Tinh province through a planned railway.
The port and railway are also part of the Lao Logistics Link, which PTL Holding Company Limited has partnered with the Lao and Vietnamese governments to develop and operate.

Mr Sakhone Philangam addresses the meeting.	Trucks loaded with goods at the dry port in Vientiane.	A bird’s eye view of the entry to the dry port.

By Advertorial Desk
(Latest Update May 19, 2022)