The Port of Savannah has recognized Vietnam as its fastest-growing trade partner, thanks to significant improvements in manufacturing and logistics in Southeast Asia.

Container trade between Savannah and Vietnam has increased by 38 percent over the last five years, adding 104,000 twenty-foot equivalent containers to reach 379,000 TEUs in fiscal year 2025. This growth is happening as both countries adapt to recent changes in trade tariffs.

“Vietnam is becoming a larger logistics market due to its good location and supportive business policies,” said Griff Lynch, President and CEO of Georgia Ports.

A new agreement between the U.S. and Vietnam is helping this trade relationship, as it reduces tariffs to 20 percent on imports, with some products possibly seeing tariffs drop to zero. This change will give U.S. exports better access to the Vietnamese market.

The trade between the two countries remains strong. Savannah exports items like forest products, food, cotton, hardware, resins, and retail goods to Vietnam, while importing clothing, footwear, furniture, electronics, and machinery. Georgia Ports currently provides nine direct ocean services between Savannah and Vietnam, with an average transit time of 33 days.

In a major operational update this November, Gemini—a partnership between shipping companies Maersk and Hapag Lloyd—chose Savannah as its first stop on the U.S. East Coast for its TP11/US1 service that starts from the Port of Haiphong in Vietnam. The new route includes stops at Ningbo, Shanghai, Lazaro Cardenas, Savannah, Charleston, New York, and Singapore, advertising a transit time of 39 days from Haiphong to Savannah.

This growing trade relationship shows Vietnam's increasing importance in global commerce. In 2024, trade between the U.S. and Vietnam was around $135 billion, making the U.S. Vietnam’s second-largest trading partner after China. Vietnam is also becoming more significant in global electronics production, with Samsung investing over $23 billion in Vietnamese plants that supply more than half of the company's global smartphone output.

The infrastructure at the Port of Savannah positions it as a key entry point for this expanding trade relationship. The port handles 35 ship arrivals each week, 42 double-stack trains, and 14,000 truck movements daily. The Georgia Ports Authority has proposed a $4.5 billion investment plan over the next decade, which includes building five new large ship berths in Savannah to support future growth.