Vietnam's cold-chain market is expanding rapidly, driven by seafood exports, modern retail, F&B, fresh produce and pharmaceuticals. But infrastructure is still struggling to keep pace.
The question is no longer simply how much cold storage Vietnam needs. It is how to deliver temperature-controlled products reliably through the last mile — and at what cost.
The size of the gap
According to FiinGroup's 2025 Vietnam Cold Chain Market Report, the country had around 1.3 million designed cold-storage pallet positions and approximately 1,499 refrigerated trucks operated by 31 professional providers. Cold-storage capacity is expected to exceed 1.7 million pallets by 2028.
That is significant progress. But it remains highly concentrated geographically and operationally, while Vietnam's food and pharmaceutical supply chains are increasingly dispersed. The result is a structural gap between products requiring temperature control and the logistics capacity available to provide it consistently.
Our scenario modelling indicates that fully cold-chaining national demand could theoretically require 20,000–40,000 refrigerated trucks, suggesting a potential gap of approximately 16,000–37,500 vehicles.
These figures are scenario estimates based on production and imports, not an official government forecast. They illustrate the scale of the infrastructure challenge rather than establish a definitive fleet requirement.
The infrastructure bill could be substantial
Our modelling suggests that closing the storage and refrigerated-transport gap could require approximately USD 0.8–1.8 billion in additional cold-storage investment, plus USD 1–4.5 billion in refrigerated transport. That represents a potential USD 1.8–6.3 billion investment requirement.
And the bill does not stop at CAPEX. Refrigerated fleets also require refrigeration units, fuel or electricity, maintenance, specialised vehicles, drivers and supporting infrastructure. For many operators, particularly in last-mile distribution, the question therefore becomes:
Do we really need refrigerated trucks?
There is another way to extend the cold chain
A cold chain does not necessarily require active refrigeration at every stage. What the product ultimately needs is a validated thermal environment.
This is where passive cold-chain systems can play an important role. High-performance insulation combined with a thermal cold source can maintain the required temperature without continuously running a refrigeration unit. This is not an untested concept. The UNECE ATP Agreement establishes internationally recognised technical requirements for equipment used to transport perishable foodstuffs, including thermal performance and insulation requirements. Olivo Cold Logistics has manufactured insulated cold-chain containers since 1956 and states that its food containers have complied with ATP technical requirements since the 1980s.
Turn existing logistics capacity into cold-chain capacity
This is where solutions such as Olivo's ROLL and BAC containers become particularly relevant to Vietnam. Instead of investing immediately in another refrigerated truck, an operator can potentially use:
Standard ambient truck + ATP-certified insulated containers + appropriate sources of cold + temperature monitoring.
This can make existing ambient transport capacity suitable for selected chilled or frozen applications. The benefits can include:
- lower infrastructure investment
- lower energy consumption
- greater fleet flexibility
- multi-temperature deliveries
- fewer dedicated refrigerated vehicles
- better utilisation of existing trucks
Olivo's logistics model specifically promotes the use of standard vehicles to transport chilled, frozen and ambient products in the same load, while reducing fleet complexity and maintaining thermal protection during stops and unloading.
This does not mean passive systems should replace refrigerated trucks. They should complement them. Active refrigeration remains the right solution for many applications. The opportunity is to use the right technology for the right transport flow.
The last mile is where this becomes particularly interesting
Vietnamese deliveries can involve:
- traffic congestion
- repeated door openings
- waiting times
- stores with limited cold-storage capacity
- high ambient temperatures
- multiple delivery points
A passive insulated container can continue protecting the product during loading, transport, unloading, waiting and delivery.
The cold chain can continue after the truck stops.
That is particularly relevant for retail, foodservice, seafood, meat, dairy, fresh produce and pharmaceutical distribution.
The impact goes beyond logistics
The cold-chain gap is also a food-safety, food-loss and ESG issue.
The World Bank has previously highlighted the relationship between fragmented distribution, inadequate cold storage / refrigerated transport and food losses in Vietnam. A 2018 study cited losses approaching 25% for fresh products moving to HCMC distribution points, with a national loss estimate of around USD 3.9 billion if those rates were representative nationally. More recent cold-chain assessments have also cited estimates of approximately 8.8 million tonnes and USD 3.9 billion in annual food losses. These figures should be treated as estimates rather than a current official national measurement.
Globally, the FAO identifies inadequate refrigeration, temperature monitoring and storage as important contributors to food loss and waste. Improving temperature control can therefore contribute to:
- Environment: less food loss, lower energy consumption and more efficient use of resources.
- Social: safer food, better product quality, improved availability and stronger food security.
- Governance: validated processes, temperature monitoring, traceability and stronger compliance.
- Competitiveness: lower logistics costs, better export performance and more resilient supply chains.
Vietnam does not have to choose between two extremes
Build billions of dollars of new refrigerated infrastructure — or accept that parts of the cold chain will remain uncovered. There is a third option:
Build the cold chain progressively — and intelligently. Use refrigerated trucks where active refrigeration is genuinely required. Build cold storage where permanent cold storage is genuinely required. And deploy ATP-certified passive cold solutions where continuous refrigeration is not necessary.
The objective should not be to build the world's largest refrigerated fleet. It should be to build the most efficient cold chain possible.
Sometimes, the most efficient refrigeration system is the one you don't have to keep running.
The strategic question for Vietnam's food, retail, pharmaceutical and logistics sectors is therefore:
How can we make more of Vietnam's existing logistics capacity cold-chain capable — without having to refrigerate everything?
That may be one of the most cost-effective ways to close part of Vietnam's cold-chain gap while simultaneously improving food safety, sustainability and supply-chain resilience.
Provigood — We Do. You Grow. Authorized distributor of Olivo Cold Logistics in Vietnam and Cambodia.
Sources and references
- FiinGroup — Vietnam Cold Chain Market Report 2025 — market size, cold-storage capacity, refrigerated fleet and market outlook.
- Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA) — analysis of Vietnam's cold-chain infrastructure, logistics costs and losses in perishable supply chains.
- VLA — "Cold Chain and Flexible Packaging: Leveraging the Value of Vietnamese Agricultural and Seafood Products" (2026) — current industry discussion on cold-chain challenges and the need for more integrated solutions.
- VLA — "Agricultural and Seafood Exports Under New Pressures: Cold Chain and Packaging as Key Factors" (2026) — VLA's assessment of cold-chain weaknesses and their impact on logistics costs and export competitiveness.
- World Bank — Vietnam Development Report — food losses, fragmented distribution and lack of cold storage / refrigerated transport.
- GCCA — Vietnam Cold Chain Assessment — food-loss estimates and structural cold-chain constraints.
- UNECE — ATP Agreement / ATP Handbook — international technical framework for the transport of perishable foodstuffs.
- FAO — Cooling the Chain, Cutting the Waste — relationship between refrigeration, food loss and sustainable food systems.
- Olivo Cold Logistics — insulated-container technology, ATP compliance and passive / multi-temperature logistics applications.
