Vietnam launches 2nd steel-clad boat for offshore fishing

A fisherman in central Quang Ngai Province on Thursday received a steel-clad fishing boat, the second of its kind built under a pilot program to modernize Vietnam’s offshore fishing fleet.

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The ship, Sang Fish 01, which was built by Cam Ranh Shipbuilding One-Member Co., Ltd., under the Vietnam Ship Building Industry Corporation (SBIC), was delivered to its owner, Phan Be, a fisherman in Duc Pho District.

Sang Fish 01 is 25.21 meters long, 7.8 meters wide and 3.6 meters tall. It has six main holds and can accommodate 18 crew members.  

With a capacity of 750 HP and a reserved fuel source, the boat can travel at 11 nautical miles per hour and operates continuously for as far as 2,000 nautical miles.

The boat is equipped with a radar system, a GSP machine, a magnetic compass, a portable 2-way transceiver, and other advanced navigation equipment.

The boat can store food, drinking water, and other necessary items for use for 30 days.

The cost of the vessel, including equipment on board, is VND7.3 billion (US$344,400), of which VND4 million ($188,700) was already paid by Be. The remaining amount will be settled in installments without interest by the fisherman for 5-7 years.

The first boat of its kind, Hoang Anh 01, was handed over to Mai Van Thanh, another fisherman also in Quang Ngai on April 10.

This pilot shipbuilding program is supported by the government that gives soft loans to farmers so that they can buy such boats.

On a visit to SBIC’s Ha Long Shipbuilding Company in northern Quang Ninh Province on June 3, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said the government will grant more credit to fishermen to help them build steel-clad boats safer and more effective than their current wooden craft.

The country’s off-shore fishing fleet now has about 25,000 boats with a capacity of only 90 HP or higher each, which can be used for fishing within a range of only 50 nautical miles from the shore, said Vu Van Tam, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Therefore new boats should be built so that the fleet can have 30,000 steel-clad fishing boats by 2020, Tam said.

The program is being carried out in the context that China has illegally dispatched its oil rig Haiyang Shiyou 981 to Vietnam’s 20-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone and continental shelf since May 1.

China has also deployed a huge number of vessels, including big iron-clad fishing boats, to guard the rig and attack Vietnamese vessels, including fishing boats. 

China’s large iron-clad fishing boats have rammed a dozen Vietnamese fishing boats in the waters, injuring several fishermen, and damaging their vessels.

Notably, on May 26, Chinese vessel #11209 rammed and sank Vietnamese fishing boat DNa 90152 with ten crew members aboard.

All the fishermen were rescued by another Vietnamese fishing boat the same day.

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