Difficulties attack long distance transportation firms from all four sides Airlines have to reduce the airfare continuously, while road passenger carriers have scaled down their business or sell coaches to pay debts. The passenger transportation firms are facing the biggest ever difficulties. Mai Linh, Phuong Trang and Thanh Buoi, the three biggest names in the field in HCM City have been reportedly undergoing big troubles. Mai Linh, which has been operating for the last 20 years in the field with the assets of up to trillions of dong, has announced the plan to sell cars to pay the VND500 billion debt to shareholders. Prior to that, Phuong Trang gave up its business in Da Lat and brought the 60 cars here back to HCM City. At that time, rumor was spread out that Phuong Trang was going bankrupt. Explaining this, the representative of Phuong Trang said in the context of economic difficulties, the company has to shrink its operation, cut down unprofitable business types, while it needs to gather strength on long distance transportation. While Phuong Trang has nearly settled its problems and cut loss successfully, Thanh Buoi is still facing a lot of problems with freight yards and offices. Le Duc Thanh, Director of Thanh Buoi Company, usually fails to keep appointments these days with reporters, saying that he is busy going to local markets or attending meetings. The director may be busy dealing with the problems in Da Lat and Can Tho. In late February 2013, the Lam Dong provincial Transport Department asked Thanh Buoi to stop exploiting the coach stations in Da Lat City, because of the small area of the station which cannot meet the current required standards. In late April 2013, the company met troubles with the office in Can Tho, because it still had not got a license, though the office has been operating for the last 2 years. Thanh Buoi is a big service provider especially on the Da Lat – HCM City and Da Lat – Can Tho routes, where it serves with 100 high quality coaches. Therefore, the troubles with the two routes have put big difficulties for the company. All Mai Linh, Phuong Trang and Thanh Buoi are the victims of their ambitious investment plans on many different business fields. Some years ago, when the real estate market was scorching hot, they all injected money in real estate projects. And like many other real estate developers, they have suffered from the gloomy market. Mai Linh provided taxi long distance carrier services and jumped into the education, real estate sector as well. Phuong Trang also had taxi fleet, provided long distance transportation and developed real estate projects. Thanh Buoi poured money into long distance transportation, tourism and real estate. In late April, Phuong Trang unexpectedly announced its plan to march towards the north. Le Cong Dinh, a senior executive, said Phuong Trang hopes to bring its transportation services to 63 provinces and cities nationwide. Preparing for the plan, in May 2013, the company would put 50 more high quality coaches into operation. By that time, it would have 550 big size coaches and 500 small sized vehicles. The big advantage Phuong Trang has when implementing the project is that Mai Linh, a big rival, is still busy with its problems and won’t think of developing business at this moment. However, the $200 billion plan of Phuong Trang, in the eyes of analysts, is so venturous. DNSG