The province is targeting a synchronized logistics network designed to reduce transportation costs, improve export efficiency and strengthen the competitiveness of agricultural products, which are shipped to more than 60 countries.
Gia Lai has large-scale, high-tech farming areas producing coffee, rubber, durian, cashew, cassava, sugarcane, pepper, banana and passion fruit. The province has also established nine key crop material zones, providing a substantial supply base for logistics services, processing and exports.
The province currently has about 108,987 hectares of coffee with estimated annual output of 341,022 tonnes, more than 86,000 hectares of rubber producing 79,249 tonnes, and 8,932 hectares of durian producing 50,054 tonnes.
It also has 40,226 hectares of cashew with output of 38,125 tonnes and 83,675 hectares of cassava producing about 1.72 million tonnes.
Gia Lai has issued 451 planting-area codes covering more than 13,420 hectares. Of these, 346 export-area codes covering more than 11,660 hectares have been approved by China’s General Administration of Customs.
Agricultural products including passion fruit, bananas, coffee, pepper and durian have expanded into markets such as the European Union, the United States and Japan.
Coffee is a particularly important export. Gia Lai’s coffee export turnover was estimated at $66.18 million in July 2026, taking the total for the first seven months of the year to $976.45 million, or about 41.5% of the province’s total export turnover.
The growing export volume is increasing demand for efficient transport, warehousing, processing and distribution infrastructure.
By 2030, Gia Lai aims to achieve total export turnover of more than $17 billion. Its logistics development plan for 2025–2035, with a vision to 2050, calls for a synchronized system linking agricultural material zones with border gates, seaports, inland container depots, cold storage facilities and distribution centers.
National highways 14, 19 and 25 already provide important transport links between production areas in the Central Highlands, logistics centers and seaports.
Several major transport projects are also under way, including the eastern section of the North–South Expressway, which will run for about 118 km through the province, and the approximately 125-km Quy Nhon–Pleiku Expressway.
Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, chairman of the Gia Lai Provincial People’s Committee, said at a recent seminar on interregional infrastructure that the Quy Nhon-Pleiku Expressway would create a strategic connection between the South Central Coast and the Central Highlands.
Once completed, the expressway is expected to cut travel time between Quy Nhon and Pleiku to less than two hours, strengthening connections between agricultural production areas and the coastal port system.
The province also plans to increase airport capacity and develop logistics centers connected to seaports, inland container depots, cold storage and distribution facilities.
For Central Highlands coffee producers, transportation costs and transit times remain major challenges, according to Nguyen Tien Dinh, director of VCU Joint Stock Company in Chu Prong commune.
Dinh said the completion of the Quy Nhon–Pleiku Expressway and development of logistics centers would shorten transport times and help bring logistics costs down to a targeted 12–15% of goods’ value, with a longer-term goal of 10–12% by 2050.
He said investment in warehouses, collection points, preliminary processing and packaging facilities within production zones would also allow businesses to reduce storage costs and working-capital requirements, improving export efficiency.
“Gia Lai is gathering all the necessary elements for a region with internationally competitive agricultural exports: leading coffee material zones, an emerging logistics corridor, and clear support policies”, Dinh said.
Container transport companies also expect improved infrastructure to generate more cargo flows through Quy Nhon Port.
Ngo Quoc Vu, director of Quy Nhon Container Joint Stock Company, said the company transports thousands of containers of agricultural products from the Central Highlands each year.
He said expressway connections between the Central Highlands and Quy Nhon would reduce transport times and costs, making agricultural goods more competitive while increasing cargo volumes through Quy Nhon Port.
Businesses in Quang Ngai, formerly part of Kon Tum province, and Dak Lak could potentially route more goods through Quy Nhon Port rather than Ho Chi Minh City, where they currently send cargo.
That shift could create opportunities for logistics companies to expand beyond Gia Lai and serve agricultural production areas in neighboring provinces.
Businesses also expect synchronized investment in transport and logistics infrastructure to support the development of a Central Highlands–Quy Nhon supply chain, with potential links to markets in Laos and Cambodia.
Huynh Van Cuong, chairman of the board of directors of Quy Nhon Port Joint Stock Company, said Gia Lai’s logistics development plan could help the port strengthen its role as the maritime gateway for Gia Lai and the wider Central Highlands.
Along the Le Thanh International Border Gate–Pleiku–Quy Nhon corridor, the port handles cargo reception and loading and unloading while forming part of a logistics chain connecting border gates, inland container depots and warehouses with maritime transport.
A more efficient logistics chain would help agricultural products such as fruit, coffee, pepper and rubber cut costs, improve competitiveness and gain deeper access to global value chains.
Quy Nhon Port is also preparing to accommodate larger vessels. The Vietnam Maritime Administration and Inland Waterways Administration are completing procedures for Wharf No. 4 to receive vessels of up to 63,550 DWT.
The Ministry of Construction has also approved a policy allowing Wharf No. 1 to handle general cargo and container ships with a deadweight of up to 85,000 DWT, subject to reduced loading.
Cuong said the port’s ability to receive larger vessels would allow more imports and exports to move directly through Quy Nhon, reducing the need for transshipment through other deep-water ports.
That would shorten transit times and lower logistics costs, he said, while improving Quy Nhon Port’s prospects of attracting shipping lines to establish direct services to international ports.