The Evaluation of Inland Waterways as A Green Alternative to Road Transportation in Vietnam’s Southern Region

Sustainable logistics and transportation in the supply chain have grown constantly in recent years to reduce the detrimental impact of emissions on the environment, society, and the economy. In Vietnam’s transportation market, road freight is the primary mode of transportation in domestic delivery, causing negative impacts such as emissions, accidents, and noise pollution. Leveraging the geographical advantages of over 19,000 kilometers of inland waterways network in Vietnam, this master's thesis aims to answer the question of the extent to which inland waterways can serve as a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to road transportation in Vietnam’s Southern region, in terms of environmental impact, economic viability, and logistical efficiency. This study also identifies the current challenges of inland waterways transport in Vietnam’s Southern region. This thesis follows the key theory of green logistics and transportation management. Green logistics covers all the initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of storage and transportation activities, including efficient use of resources, emissions reduction, and cost optimization. The study concentrates on the transportation of goods through the road and inland waterways network. In road freight, logistics services providers mainly use trucks operating on highways to transport the shipment from the destination, while waterborne transport utilizes river and canal systems to carry a large volume of shipments on barges. The ultimate goal of a transportation network is to fulfill the customer demand, the requested delivery date, and shipment quality. This research used the qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews with logistics and transportation professionals in logistics companies operating in Vietnam’s southern region to collect practical data based on their perspectives and experiences. Additionally, online surveys were conducted with logistics operators with 5-point Likert scale questions to measure the perception of respondents of environmental, economic, and logistical aspects of the two modes. The results were then collected, checked, and compared with existing studies to ensure the reliability and validity of the research. The results show that inland waterways transport has strong potential as sustainable transportation by reducing the total emissions, costs, and energy consumption per transported unit. While there are some current infrastructure challenges, both government and business are making a great effort to develop an inland waterways network through funding and the development of electric barges. Finally, this study highlights the importance of collaboration among small logistics companies and effective communication with customers to raise the awareness of environmental benefits of this mode and form the effective multimodal network of road – inland waterways – road transport.