Unstable shipbuilding profession

Two years ago (2017), the boat building facility of Mr. Nguyen Van Xang's family in Quynh Tho commune (Quynh Luu) operated continuously with many boat building orders from fishermen.

In particular, since the Government's Decree 67 supported fishermen in building new boats, from 2015 to 2017, his facility has built 12 boats with a capacity of over 800 CV and 14 non-project boats. After being built, the boats have gone offshore and have all achieved high efficiency.

Many shipbuilding villages in Nghe An are operating at a low level. Photo: Viet Hung

However, from 2018 until now, his facility has not built any new fishing boats, over 50 shipbuilders have no jobs, and have had to find other side jobs. Mr. Xang said: After handing over 2 newly built fishing boats in March 2018, the facility has not been in operation; machinery and equipment have been rusted for a long time and nearly 70 unused blocks of wood have been soaked in the pond for preservation. The shipbuilders have all gone to find other jobs, the facility's shipbuilding business has almost closed down.

According to fishermen, the movement of building new boats in coastal districts such as Quynh Luu, Hoang Mai town, Dien Chau was most active in 2017, when the support policies of the Central, province, and district were in effect. In 2017 alone, Nghe An built over 200 new boats with a capacity of 400 CV or more, bringing the total number of offshore boats to over 1,450. However, from 2018 to now, the building of new boats has shown signs of slowing down, with the whole province only building 12 new boats.

Due to long-term inactivity, Mr. Nguyen Van Xang's shipbuilding facility in Quynh Tho commune (Quynh Luu) is at risk of loss due to billions of dong worth of machinery being damaged. Photo: Viet Hung

It is known that the main reason is that the support policies no longer exist, besides, the means of vessels are almost "saturated" and fishing activities are not very effective due to the increase in material prices and the scarcity of labor. In Quynh Luu district, in 2017, the whole district built more than 30 new offshore vessels, but from mid-2018 until now, no new vessels have been built.

Fisherman Nguyen Van Manh in Son Hai commune (Quynh Luu) said: Many fishing households also want to invest in building new offshore vessels, but it also depends on the conditions of each region. Meanwhile, to build a new vessel requires a lot of capital, while bank loans are limited. In addition, the reason for this problem is that recently the exploitation efficiency of offshore vessels is low, the cost of fuel, fishing gear has increased, the price of seafood is unstable, so since the beginning of the year, a number of fishing boats have been stuck on shore, so fishermen are not "keen" on investing in building new vessels.

Nghe An currently has about 20 shipbuilding and repair facilities with hundreds of workers. Among them, there are a number of large shipbuilding facilities in Quynh Tho, Tien Thuy, Quynh Nghia communes (Quynh Luu); Quynh Lap commune (Hoang Mai town); Nghi Thiet (Nghi Loc)... However, there are many shipbuilding facilities in Nghe An that are operating at a low level.

Hundreds of professional shipbuilders are also unemployed as demand for new shipbuilding is no longer high. Photo: Viet Hung

In addition, over 500 shipbuilding workers in Nghe An are unemployed, forcing them to look for work elsewhere, leading to many traditional shipbuilding villages being at risk of lacking workers and disappearing.