Vietnam sees potential in Sri Lanka for logistics and warehouse businesses
Vietnam saw Sri Lanka as a potential destination for logistics and warehouse businesses which will also help East Asia businesses reach South Asian and Middle Eastern markets, visiting Vietnamese officials said.
Sri Lanka had the largest transshipment port in the region which Vietnam firms can use to reduce trade costs, To Ngoc Son, Deputy Director General, Department of International Market Development of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam said.
“This can constitute one of the important pillars in our two countries’ wish to increase the volumes of trade over the next three to five years,” Son told a Vietnam Sri Lanka business forum at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
Vietnam exported 430 billion dollars of goods up to November 2025, and imported 409 billion dollars, according to the National Statistics Office.
Vietnam and Sri Lanka could develop a supply chain in areas like apparel and footwear, Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director General, Agency of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Industry and Trade said.
Vietnam had around 7,000 companies engaged in the textile and apparel sector housed in dozens of specialized industrial parks, he said.
Vietnam had 2,000 companies and enterprises operating in this industry.
“For logistics services, we can enhance our sea shipping routes between Vietnam and Sri Lanka,” Hai said.
“And we can establish regional consolidation partners.
“This morning, when we had a meeting with our partner in the Ministry of Commerce, Sri Lanka, we also agreed that very soon, maybe next year, we will exchange our delegations of logistics service providers, so that we can improve this service.”
Senior Vietnam trade officials were part of a delegation that accompanied Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang to Sri Lanka.
Vietnam had 34 seaports, and a big deep water port in Hai Phong.
“And we also have a major cargo hub in Hanoi. And very soon, we will have a very big airport, a logistic airport, that will play the role of a major cargo hub in Southeast Asia,” Hai said.
Vietnam Airlines will start direct flights to Sri Lanka from August 2026.
Vietnam had 40,000 logistic companies and service providers.
Large foreign shipping and logistics companies were operating in Vietnam like Maersk, FedEx and UPS, he said. Sri Lanka’s EFL also has operations in Vietnam.
“For logistics services, now we are trying to promote logistic regionalization,” Hai said.
“So we are all aware that regional transformation is very important, not only for service, not only for manufacturing : this is for all the aspects of our lives.
Sri Lanka however has restrictions in foreign investment into shipping and warehousing, due to pressure from special interests or so-called oligarchs, and has allowed Singapore and Dubai to develop as logistics centres on both sides of the island, critics say.
Due to the controls, as well as monetary instability Sri Lanka has not been able to grow as fast as stable countries in Asia.
Recently Sri Lanka Customs officials clamped down on e-commerce trade, withdrawing a de facto de-minimis facility, in the style of Donald Trump.
Critics who are familiar with the logistics industry said Sri Lanka had spontaneously developed as a regional de-consolidation hub for e-commerce as a result of de facto de minimis, but the nascent industry is being killed.
