VietNam Business: Mapletree

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Mapletree builds logistics park in Bac Ninh

The Singapore-based Mapletree company held a ground-breaking ceremony
for a new international logistics park at Vietnam-Singapore Industrial
Park (VSIP) in the northern province Bac Ninh on Sept. 23.

Once completed, the 140 million USD Mapletree-Bac Ninh logistics park
will provide 310,000 sq.m for warehousing to meet the company’s demand.

At the ground-breaking ceremony, Mapletree Chief
Investment Officer Chua Tiow Chye said Vietnam was an attractive
investment destination to Mapletree as it was an important market in
Asia.

The Mapletree Bac Ninh project is part of the company’s strategy to expand business and investment in northern Vietnam.

Mapletree started its investment in Vietnam in 2005 with a 23,000 sq.m
logistics park in VSIP I in the southern province of Binh Duong.

The company has developed two new projects in Binh Duong province – a
68-ha logistics park in VSIP II and a 75-ha hi-tech industrial complex
area.

The operation of Mapletree Bac Ninh project will offer
good service for VSIP Bac Ninh and other IPs in the province, creating
an attractive and synchronous investment environment in the province,
according to Deputy Head of Bac Ninh IP management board Bui Hoang Mai.

Bac Ninh IPs have so far licensed 435 projects, including 189 foreign-invested, worth 3.3 billion USD in total, Mai said./.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Singapore firm set to ease north’s logistics woes

An artist's impression of Mapletree Bac Ninh Logistics Park

Photo: Photo courtesy of Mapletree

The Singapore-based Mapletree Investment will break ground for northern Vietnam's largest logistics center next week to serve the increasing needs of international and domestic manufacturers who are setting up bases there.

The $70 million center will be located at the Vietnam-Singapore Township and Industrial Park in Bac Ninh Province, 18 kilometers northeast of Hanoi.

The 55-hectare park will have bonded and non-bonded warehouse facilities and an inland container depot. When completed, it will have 280,000 square meters of modern logistics space.

Its construction begins at a time when many foreign investors like Canon, Panasonic, Samsung Electronics, Foxconn, Compal, and Piaggio, who have manufacturing factories in northern Vietnam, are facing a shortage of logistics facilities.

"There are several logistics sites developed in Bac Ninh and neighboring provinces, but all are small," Dau Tu (Vietnam Investment Review) newspaper quoted Vu Duc Quyet, director of the Bac Ninh Industrial Parks Management Authority, as saying.

With more and more manufacturers setting up shop in the region, the existing logistics facilities are overstretched, he said.

Korea's Samsung Electronics, which has a $670 million mobile phone manufacturing plant in Bac Ninh, recently sought permission to build its own logistics site.

Mapletree's site is close to major roads like National Highways 1A and 18 and the Hanoi-Hai Phong Highway, and near the border with China.

"Manufacturers can easily transport their cargo from the center to the capital, Noi Bai International Airport [in Hanoi], and ports in Hai Phong," Quyet added.

This is Mapletree's first project in the northern region and third in Vietnam after the 68-hectare, $110 million Mapletree Binh Duong Logistics Park and Mapletree Business City @ Binh Duong in Binh Duong Province near Ho Chi Minh City.

VietNam Business