Vietnam has 3,260 km of coastline, located on one of the busiest maritime routes in the world, connecting the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and Europe.
However, potential is only a starting point; to become a real strength, a solid foundation is needed — which Vietnam’s maritime economy currently lacks. Despite possessing rare natural advantages, this sector has yet to achieve a corresponding breakthrough. Many core bottlenecks silently hold back progress.
First and foremost is the capacity of maritime enterprises themselves. Most are still small-scale, undercapitalized, using simple technology; mainly performing subcontracting or providing low-end services, resulting in very modest value-added returns.
Even in sectors considered natural strengths, such as shipping, marine tourism, fisheries, or coastal logistics, domestic enterprises often lag behind international corporations. When enterprises themselves are weak, Vietnam struggles to establish a genuine competitive advantage within the ocean economy value chain.
Maritime infrastructure and logistics are also major bottlenecks. Ports are dispersed, lack connectivity, lack rail connections, and there are no regional-scale logistics centers, resulting in very high logistics costs, higher than countries like Singapore or Thailand. This makes Vietnamese enterprises lose their competitive advantage right at home.
Even deep-water ports like Cai Mep - Thi Vai, although able to receive large vessels, have yet to become international transshipment hubs due to a lack of urban development, integrated ports, and efficient logistics infrastructure. Thus, the golden advantage of geographic location is turned into a “half-hearted” advantage.
A deeper limitation lies in technology. Productivity in maritime sectors is low due to outdated technology and insufficient investment in innovation. Poor seafood preservation technology reduces post-harvest value.
Monitoring and fisheries management technology is also outdated, causing Vietnam to respond slowly to European Commission (EC) requirements on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, leading to “yellow card” sanctions and difficulties in removing this warning.
In offshore renewable energy, a sector considered Vietnam’s future, most turbines, equipment, and structures still have to be imported, making it difficult to develop a domestic supply chain. Without an increase in total factor productivity (TFP), Vietnam will remain in the low-value segment and be highly vulnerable to international fluctuations.
Even more serious is the institutional bottleneck. The maritime economy is currently managed in a “do-it-yourself” style, dispersed across many ministries, each controlling a portion but lacking an effective coordination mechanism.
Transforming the exploitation model
Port planning is separated from industrial and coastal urban planning; fisheries policy is not linked to logistics, marine environment, or FDI attraction; marine data is fragmented and there is no authoritative inter-agency body to connect all the pieces.
When each ministry manages part of the maritime space without a common “conductor” coordinating, overall strength is divided and wasted. This is the foundational bottleneck, making it difficult to convert abundant potential into real power.
FDI inflows into the maritime economy are also below expectations. Instead of high-tech sectors, most FDI still focuses on resource extraction, processing, and labor-intensive activities. Vietnam remains outside the global ocean technology value chain, where the highest value-added lies in new materials, underwater robotics, maritime equipment, wind turbines, marine biotechnology, and smart logistics.
In addition, the maritime workforce is severely lacking. Maritime sectors require oceanography engineers, marine environmental experts, wind energy engineers, marine vessel technicians, maritime logistics specialists, etc., but labor supply cannot keep up with actual demand.
Despite many limitations, the sea remains the greatest hope for a new development model for Vietnam. The key is to shift from “exploiting the sea” to “creating a maritime economy.” To do this, Vietnam needs to implement three strategic transformations.
The first transformation is to enhance the total factor productivity (TFP) of the maritime economy, based on technology and data. Marine data must be digitized, seafood preservation and processing technologies upgraded, offshore equipment manufacturing technologies developed, and smart port operation technologies deployed. Technology is the key for Vietnam’s maritime economy to escape the low-value segment.
In the 21st century, as global supply chains restructure and green industries along with maritime trade become new growth drivers, the sea has become a “geoeconomic passport” advancing Vietnam into international economic flows. Few countries possess such a valuable strategic advantage.
The second transformation is to increase domestic value-added (DVA) through the development of maritime-supporting industries. Vietnam needs to establish marine industrial clusters in Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Hai Phong, and Quang Ninh to produce turbine components, offshore structural materials, maritime equipment, and coastal logistics services. FDI must be selectively attracted, accompanied by technology transfer and workforce training requirements.
The third transformation is to expand international market access (IMA) by developing modern maritime infrastructure and logistics. Cai Mep - Thi Vai should be upgraded to an international transshipment hub; coastal railways should be built to connect industrial clusters; cold chain logistics, digital logistics, and 24/7 logistics services need to be developed to reduce costs and increase competitiveness.
When the three pillars — TFP, DVA, IMA — are activated in sync, the maritime economy will become Vietnam’s strategic growth engine. Then, the sea will not only be the starting point of ships, but also the starting point of a new vision: a vision of an autonomous, green, modern Vietnam, deeply integrated with the world.
The sea is beautiful, but its true value lies in the capacity to organize development space, upgrade enterprises, reform institutions, and restructure value chains. The sea is Vietnam’s future — if Vietnam dares to change, think big, and step into the world with the power of a strong maritime nation, not just a country with beautiful coastlines.