The 2014 first trade report by Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping company, has showed positive economic prospects in Vietnam as a result of stable foreign investment inflows and increased trade transaction value.

The growth in commodities in the first quarter of this year truly reflected Vietnam’s trade balance. Domestic businesses still faced numerous difficulties due to the slow restructuring of state-owned enterprises and the banking system. However, key economic sectors continued to strongly develop, Maersk Line Vietnam & Cambodia General Director Nguyen Thi Ngoc Bich was quoted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Vietnam Economic News as saying.

Maersk also forecast that Vietnam would continue facing disadvantages and obstacles in terms of global competitiveness. Specifically, Vietnamese logistical costs accounted for 25 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) which was higher than most other countries in the region. Moreover, despite current trade surplus for Vietnam, most Vietnamese exports were low-value and labour-intensive, rather than high-technology.

The Maersk Group has 89,000 staff worldwide including about 500 in Vietnam. Apart from Maersk Line, the group has other subsidiaries in Vietnam including Damco which provides freight forwarding and supply chain management services, Safmarine which is an international shipping business, and MCC Transport which is an Intra-Asia carrier delivering containerised cargo shipping.

The Maersk Group established its first Vietnam representative office in Ho Chi Minh City in 1991.-VNA