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Vietnam TRANSPORTATION
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Figure 13. Transportation System, 1987
As described by the Vietnamese government, the economy in the
1980s suffered from the "backwardness" of the transport system.
The system's inadequate development constituted a major
impediment to industrial development, created bottlenecks in the
circulation of goods and supplies, and constrained domestic
trade. The importance of transportation development was
emphasized at the Sixth National Party Congress in December 1986,
and confirmed at the Central Committee's Second Plenum in April
1987. The plenum urged state cooperatives, private enterprises,
and individuals to invest in expanding the transportation sector
and to engage in transportation services that would benefit
business
(see fig. 13).
Damage to the transportation structure was extensive during
the latter half of the Second Indochina War, particularly in the
North, and the 1979 Chinese invasion severely interdicted rail
transport near the Chinese border, but Vietnamese transportation
statistics also indicated a lack of development from 1975 through
1980. In 1980 total cargo transported amounted to 42.3 million
tons, an increase of only 4.2 percent over the 40.6 million tons
transported in 1970. Cargo carried by rail totaled only 3.5
million tons in 1980, compared with 4.5 million tons in 1965. In
terms of volume hauled over distance traveled, 758 million ton
per kilometer were transported by rail in 1980, a figure not
significantly greater than that measured in 1965 (749 million
tons per kilometer). A 30-percent increase in the average rail
distance traveled per shipment in 1980 (from 166 kilometers to
216 kilometers) was attributed to expanded shipments from the
South to the North.
In 1987 Vietnamese road and railroad construction figures for
the period of the Second Five-Year Plan were contradictory.
Construction figures indicated that 1,500 kilometers of new roads
were built and 137 kilometers of new railroad track were laid
during this time, but the plan's fulfillment report cited 3,800
kilometers of road constructed and 2,000 kilometers of main and
auxiliary track laid for the North-South railroad. Vietnamese
reports to Comecon showed that total track increased by 837
kilometers to reach a total of 2,900 kilometers in 1980. Repair
of war damage to the rail system and construction of new sidings,
however, took up much of the effort that might otherwise have
been directed toward expanding the rail system.
The profitability and efficiency of the railroad
transportation system had declined even before the system was
damaged by the Chinese invasion in 1979. According to a
Vietnamese transportation economist, profit per dong of fixedcapital investment decreased from D0.17 in 1964 to D0.04 in 1978.
The same source calculated that the productivity per railcar
declined from 1,999 tons per kilometer per day in 1960 to 784
tons per kilometer per day in 1978. Comparable estimates for road
transportation were not available; however, the aging truck stock
and the severe parts shortages experienced in the late 1970s,
which left trucks inoperable or cannibalized, suggested that road
transportation was at least as problematic as rail
transportation.
In 1985 Vietnam had approximately 85,000 kilometers of roads
and 4,250 kilometers of railroad. According to Vietnamese
officials, 238 kilometers of railroad and nearly 3,500 kilometers
of road had been built in the ten years since reunification. The
principal road and rail routes linked Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City
(1,730 kilometers), Hanoi to Haiphong (102 kilometers), Hanoi to
Muc Quan (176 kilometers), Hanoi to Thanh Hoa (160 kilometers),
and Hanoi to Lao Cai (295 kilometers). Railroads were in working
order but needed substantial repair and restoration. Track
running from Nha Trang, Phu Khanh Province, to Qui Nhon, Nghia
Binh Province was completed between 1983 and 1984 by a French
development-aid team.
Dozens of kilometers of bridges were constructed between 1975
and 1985. With Soviet assistance, Vietnam rebuilt the Thang Long
bridge over the Red River, north of Hanoi. The country's longest
bridge, extending 1,688 meters, it had been destroyed during the
Second Indochina War. Other bridges were built on the national
highway in central Vietnam and in the Mekong River Delta. The
road system in the 1980s included 9,400 kilometers with a
bituminous surface, 48,700 kilometers with a gravel or improved
earth surface, and 26,900 kilometers with an unimproved earth
roadbed.
Haiphong, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang were the largest of
nine major and twenty-three minor ports. Port capacity in the
late 1970s and early 1980s increased greatly. Haiphong's wharves
reportedly grew to 1,700 meters and were served by 3,600 meters
of railroad track and 2,000 meters of crane track. Covered and
open storage were increased to 90,000 square meters. Despite
efforts to enlarge and equip the ports, however, they remained
the weakest link in Vietnam's transportation system.
In early 1985, the Vietnamese portion of a 500-kilometer oil
pipeline linking the seaport of Vinh in Nghe Tinh Province to
Vientiane, Laos, was completed with Soviet assistance. The
project was expected to provide Laos with an annual supply of
300,000 tons of petroleum and gas, some of which was to be used
by Vietnamese army units stationed there.
The Vietnamese merchant fleet was upgraded with Soviet
assistance. The Soviets installed and ran a sophisticated coastal
freighter and barge system between Haiphong and Soviet Pacific
Ocean ports. The system apparently was designed to transport
military hardware in a secure manner. Vietnam also cooperated
with Thailand and Laos in improving the navigability of the
Mekong River under the auspices of the UN Mekong Committee.
Navigable inland waterways totaled about 17,702 kilometers, of
which more than 5,149 kilometers were navigable at all times by
vessels of up to 1.8 meters in draft. According to Vietnamese
statistics for the years 1984 and 1985, marine transport had
increased by 2.2 times the level in 1976.
Civil aviation in the 1980s was controlled by the military
and based primarily at two international airports, Noi Bai in
Hanoi and Tan Son Nhut in Ho Chi Minh City. Domestically, Hanoi
was linked by regular service to Phu Bai, Nha Trang, Da Nang,
Pleiku, Da Lat, Buon Me Thuot, and Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh
City also was connected by regularly scheduled flights to Rach
Gia, Phu Quoc, and Con Son Island. The aircraft used were Sovietmade .
In March 1983, commercial air service between Hanoi and
Moscow was opened by Aeroflot. Air Vietnam, in the late 1980s,
connected Hanoi with Vientiane, Phnom Penh and Bangkok, and Air
France provided regular flights to Ho Chi Minh City from Bangkok.
The number of airfields totaled 217, of which 128 were usable and
46 had permanently surfaced runways. Twelve had runways from
2,440 to 3,659 meters in length, and 28 maintained runways of
1,220 to 2,439 meters.
Data as of December 1987
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