Symposium reviews shipbuilding in two years

The figure was reported at a symposium on the building and upgrade of fishing boats in the central province of Binh Dinh on June 9.

According to localities, all the 771 newly-built and upgraded boats have began operation with many of them earning up to VND1 billion (US$44,000) each year. 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said since the implementation of the decree two years ago, localities nationwide have received the green light to build 2,284 boats. 

Nearly 1,950 ships are eligible to access bank credits and contracts worth nearly VND9.3 trillion (US$409 million) were signed between 945 ship owners and commercial banks, the symposium heard. 

However, the problem lies with the low quality of steel-coated boats due to the limited capacity of shipyards, loose supervision of ship owners over the building,  and fishermen’s weaknesses in mastering advanced operation technologies. 

Given this, MARD Deputy Minister Vo Van Tam urged the Directorate of Fisheries to review relevant legal documents and seriously inspect the observance of the documents.  

Localities should intensify their supervision over the operation of shipyards  and continue to train fishermen in using steel-coated boats, he said.