This direction has helped the company overcome difficulties, and made it possible for fishermen to access more affordable products.
Phạm Văn Tuyên is one of the fishermen who received steel-hulled boats in Hải Hậu District, Nam Định Province. Currently, the wooden hulls in the province have been replaced by steel-hulled boats. They have the capacity to go on fishing trips for 15 days non-stop and can reach more abundant fishing grounds.
Pham Van Tuyen, Fisherman, Hai Chinh Commune, Hai Hau Dist., Nam Dinh Prov. said: The steel-hulled boats are stronger and safer than the wood-clad type. Steel-clad ships move faster, consume less fuel, and can operate much safer for a longer time than wood-clad boats of the same size.
There are about 118 thousand fishing boats in Vietnam. However, 99% of the fishing boats were made from wood with low capacity. In order to develop, the replacement of steel-hulled boats is necessary. Building steel-hulled boats has created many positive results.
The fishermen and local shipbuilding companies have collaborated on a steel-hulled boat team. Accordingly, the fishermen can rent or buy fishing boats which cost 250,000 US dollars, and pay in installments over 5 years with zero interest-rate.
Nguyen Doan Lam, Deputy Director, Nam Dinh's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: In order to help fishermen buy steel-hulled boats, we asked the government to create more policies to give them support in the steel-hulled shipbuilding program.
According to the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin), as the transport market has been recovering, the company hasn’t reached international partners. Therefore, the building of new fishing boats will help shipbuilding companies overcome challenges.
"This type of fishing boat makes fishermen more competitive. Therefore, we decided to change from large scale boats to smaller ones with higher quality and capacity.", Nguyen Ngoc Su, Chairman, Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation added.
The government approved the policy to replace 3000 wooden fishing boats with steel-hulled vessels. The total budget of the project is 447 million US dollars. In order to prevent waste and create more efficiency, local shipbuilding companies will hear the fishermen's opinions on the boat design.
