Transport businesses face difficulties and concerns about rising commodity prices

In the last days of the year, consumer demand increases to prepare for the Lunar New Year, so transportation activities are also very bustling. However, the prolonged traffic congestion and new regulations in the transportation industry are causing many businesses to fall into a difficult situation.

In the last days of the year, consumer demand increases to prepare for the Lunar New Year, so transportation activities are also very bustling. However, the prolonged traffic congestion and new regulations in the transportation industry are causing many businesses to fall into a difficult situation.

Many streets in Ho Chi Minh City have been continuously congested in recent days (Photo: Le Toan)

Businesses face difficulties with new regulations

Records in Ho Chi Minh City during the last days of the year show that traffic congestion has become serious at intersections from the inner city to the suburbs. The reason is that the density of vehicles carrying goods has increased during the Tet shopping season.

In addition, transport businesses and drivers are facing new regulations in the Road Traffic Safety Law 2024, effective from January 1, 2025. This regulation limits drivers to driving no more than 48 hours/week, 10 hours/day and no more than 4 hours continuously. Violations will be severely punished according to Decree 168/2024/ND-CP, so it puts a lot of pressure on businesses.

Mr. Phan Quang Hai, a tractor driver at Cat Lai port (Thu Duc city, Ho Chi Minh city) shared that in the past, he could transport 2 shipments per day, but now due to traffic congestion and driving time limits, completing one trip is difficult. Once, the GPS device reported that he had driven continuously for 4 hours, but he could not stop anywhere because the road was jammed.

Previously, two shipments could be made per day, but now due to traffic congestion and driving time limits, it is difficult to complete one shipment.

As the owner of a transport company with 12 container trucks, Mr. Hoang Minh Thai (40 years old, living in Thu Duc City) also said that his company transports containers from Cat Lai port to warehouses in the Southeast region, with a radius of about 100 km. However, with the current traffic situation, the company faces many difficulties.

“The driver swipes the GPS device and starts driving to Cat Lai port to pick up the container, which takes 2 hours. From Cat Lai port gate, the driver drives to Nguyen Thi Dinh and Dong Van Cong streets towards Phu My bridge, often experiencing traffic jams for another 2-4 hours. Thus, the car has not yet left the Ho Chi Minh City area, but the driver has already spent 4 hours driving continuously. However, this road does not have a stop or parking spot for the driver to rest for 15 minutes as prescribed. The driver has to move the car little by little, and cannot turn off the engine and park on this road because there are signs prohibiting stopping and parking,” said Mr. Thai.

According to Mr. Thai, with such regulations, transport companies will definitely have to arrange 2 drivers, leading to increased costs. In particular, in difficult conditions for drivers and high penalties, many people quit the job and recruitment of staff by transport companies is also very difficult.

These "bottlenecks" not only cause difficulties for transport businesses, but also have a chain effect on production, business, and import and export of goods.

Mr. Le Hoang Phong, Deputy Director of Hoc Mon Agricultural and Food Wholesale Market, said that pork prices may be pushed up if heavy traffic congestion continues around the wholesale market, leading to goods not being transferred from slaughterhouses to the market in time.

According to Mr. Nguyen Truong Son, Deputy General Director of Saigon Co.op , with the current traffic congestion situation, there will be a risk of local shortages of fresh goods, vegetables and fruits that must be brought back every day. That puts this group of goods at risk of price increases. In addition, due to traffic congestion,

Delivery to online shoppers is also facing difficulties.

Solutions to overcome difficulties

Sharing with Dau Tu Newspaper reporters about the difficulties that transport businesses are facing, Mr. Le Trung Tinh, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Passenger Automobile Transport Association, said that the main goal of the regulations is to protect drivers' health and reduce traffic accidents, but the hasty issuance and lack of time for dissemination make it difficult for drivers and businesses to implement.

To ease the difficulties for businesses, the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Passenger Automobile Transport Association proposed that the regulation of "not driving more than 48 hours/week" should be calculated based on the annual average. This allows drivers to work more during peak season and less during low season. At the same time, research should be done to increase the limit from 48 hours to 60 hours/week to match the reality and overtime regulations in the Labor Law.

Regarding fines, according to Mr. Tinh, the current fines are too high, not commensurate with the standard of living and income in Vietnam, and are easily seen as "punitive" rather than " educational ". Therefore, it is necessary to develop reasonable fines, for example, only increasing them 5-7 times compared to before, instead of increasing them 20-50 times as at present.

Regarding traffic congestion in the inner city, Mr. Tinh suggested that a pilot program should be conducted to allow two-wheeled vehicles to turn right at red lights, except in cases where there is a prohibition sign. This solution would help reduce congestion at intersections, with low cost and high efficiency.

According to experts, in the long term, Ho Chi Minh City needs to focus resources on improving its traffic infrastructure, which has been overloaded for a long time. Infrastructure overload is one of the factors that makes input costs for production of enterprises and living costs of workers still high. This reduces Ho Chi Minh City's ability to attract investment capital.

Therefore, the research team of Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics and the Ho Chi Minh City Statistics Office recommended that in 2025 and the following years, Ho Chi Minh City needs to focus resources to quickly complete key infrastructure projects.

“The speed at which infrastructure challenges are resolved will determine the City’s growth rate in 2025 and will be key to determining growth in the next era,” experts recommended.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/doanh-nghiep-van-tai-gap-kho-va-noi-lo-tang-gia-hang-hoa-d241421.html