According to the developers of the “Make in Vietnam” digital port platform, one of the major challenges they had to overcome was the prejudice of businesses toward domestic products.
This was shared by Mr. Tạ Minh Vang, Chairman of CEH Informatics Services Company, at the 6th National Forum on Digital Technology Enterprises. The company was recently awarded the Bronze Prize in the category of “Outstanding Digital Technology Products in the Fields of Transportation, Post, and Logistics” for their non-stop authentication solution at ports – SmartGate AI.
The representative of CEH stated that one of the challenges in developing a purely Vietnamese digital port platform is the prejudice and reluctance of transport businesses toward domestic products. Additionally, the features and utilities of the platform demand strict requirements for security and information safety.
Although there were times when they wanted to give up, CEH received support from the Authority of Information Security (under the Ministry of Information and Communications) to connect with various units and sectors to develop features that meet these stringent requirements, ultimately becoming a technology partner for port businesses.
Mr. Vang shared that over 11 years, CEH has persistently developed the “Make in Vietnam” digital port platform for several reasons. With approximately 170 container ports distributed across 25 provinces and spanning about 3,200 kilometers of coastline, Vietnam has a significant volume of cargo requiring port processing.
Before the availability of domestic solutions, Vietnamese ports had to purchase foreign solutions at high costs, yet these still had limitations. For example, they were reliant on foreign technology; data connection and sharing were challenging; and there was a lack of skilled IT personnel.
After extensive research, development, and refinement, the purely Vietnamese digital port platform has achieved many positive results, outperforming foreign solutions in three key areas: reducing the time and number of touchpoints needed to complete services; creating a centralized data repository to improve processes and efficiency by connecting with 35 port units, over 100 shipping companies, nearly 2,000 domestic transport businesses, and 45,000 import-export enterprises; and cutting investment costs by 10–20%.
More importantly, the digital port platform contributes to the overall development of Vietnam’s port system, serving as a foundation for building a national port database to support government management.
Through this, authorities gain tools to monitor and track each container from the time it enters Vietnam’s territorial waters to its arrival at the port and its subsequent journey to industrial zones and distribution centers.
“We have proven that Vietnamese enterprises are fully capable of mastering and developing products that meet Vietnam’s requirements and can even reach global markets,” Mr. Vang emphasized.