The following review of the Vietnam cold storage market landscape provides an overview of the existing commercial cold storage providers and their pricing, a demand analysis of key end-user groups, investment activities, and legal framework.

The first, the total designed capacity of Vietnam commercial cold storages was estimated at 349,000 pallets in 2015: There are 20 professionally-managed commercial cold storages in the South of Vietnam, 40–50 in the North, and many other small independent cold storages.

The second, there are four main sources of cold storage demand in Vietnam including: seafood, meat, fruit & vegetables, and grocery retailing. All segments pose potential opportunities for commercial cold storage providers. However, each segment poses particular requirements for cold storage providers to fulfill the market potentials. For example, key drivers for cold storage development in Vietnam are seafood export activities, which indicates a need for more cold storages near major ports. Hence, a holistic strategy of segment targeting, location selection and marketing is required to maximize growth for cold storage investors.

The third, cccupancy rate is very high at over 90% at almost all cold storages: it was surprising to find that the occupancy rate at almost cold storages is very high at over 90%, and that some have even reached full capacity. It is not yet peak season for seafood harvesting and export. The peak season is usually from May to October. However, the occupancy rate might fluctuate constantly, as each vendor only uses the storage for a couple of days to two weeks before shipping the inventory out.

The fourth, the average cold storage leasing price is US$0.70 a pallet per day: The leasing price of cold storage ranges from US$0.56 – US$0.90 a pallet per day. However, some cold storage providers separate their handling and docking fees (for example, Hung Vuong adds US$1 per tonne for handling and loading costs), while others like Swire include all of the basic services.

The fifth, in terms of competition dynamics, there are four main groups in the Vietnam commercial cold storage market, namely foreign-owned, local, logistics companies, and others. Local providers dominate the market in terms of designed capacity, whereas foreign-owned providers are the market leaders in storage quality & management services.

The sixth, competition landscape is most active among the top 5 players: There are 20 professionally managed cold storage providers and many other small independent cold storages. Yet, small cold storages are not trusted by end-users. As the leasing prices of cold storage providers do not differ much from each other, the quality of storage facilities is a key to customers.

In term of transportation, Vietnam  has an overall ranking position in Infrastructure of 81/ 144 countries

Between 2016 and 2020, Vietnam will need an average annual investment of about US$38 billion for various socio-economic infrastructure projects, mostly in the transport network and electricity, irrigation, water, education and healthcare. Transport infrastructure alone will require close to US$120 billion for the whole period. Traditional funding sources such as the state budget, international Official Development Assistance (ODA) funds and government bonds can cover just some 50 per cent of the demand. Wider contributions are therefore required from the local capital market as well as private investors, under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

PPPs are still at a very early stage of development in Vietnam and one of the keys to success will be the private sector's active role throughout the development of the programme. The government created a PPP office under the Ministry of Transport and an inter-ministerial steering committee. A critical US$20 million Project Development Facility and a Viability Gap Fund is slated to be implemented by the end of 2015 that is expected provide up to US$1 billion of state contribution required to make PPP projects.

Among the 127 projects calling for foreign investment up until 2020, (released in Aug 2014) a considerable percentage of the list is in the transport infrastructure such as roads, railways, airports, seaports:

- Noi Bai-Ha Long highway, nearly US$1.8 billion.
- Long Thanh Airport in Dong Nai Province, US$ 5.6 billion for Phase 1.
- Bien Hoa-Vung Tau railway, US$5 billion.
- Dau Giay-Lien Khuong highway, US$3.5 billion.
- The total capital called for by these projects is over US$58 billion.

One of the best opportunities is that the transport infrastructure industry value alone will grow by an average of four per cent year-on-year between 2015 and 2019.

The projected growth in construction and related services in transportation:

• expressways
• metro/monorail
• airport and urban development
• industrial and residential waste treatment.

The increasing adoption of Build Operate Transfer (BOT) and PPP models and the track record and reputation of Australian infrastructure expertise, technology, equipment and services offer significant opportunities for businesses in the medium to long term, especially in:

• architecture
• consultancy services and technical assistance
• engineering services
• concept design
• construction management
• project management.