Vietnam ministry rejects $70mn proposals to import old fishing boats

Vietnam ministry rejects $70mn proposals to import old fishing boats

The Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has spurned the proposal to import fishing boats on preferential loans by two businesses as the vessels they wish to buy are too old and fail to meet quality standards.

Duc Khai Corporation and Tri Viet Seafood Company, both based in Ho Chi Minh City, have called on the government to be allowed to borrow loans worth millions of U.S. dollars at preferential interest rates to buy and build fishing boats.

Both companies wanted to benefit from the preferential treatments targeting fishermen, as stipulated in a Prime Minister’s decree that took effect in July.

On June 18, Duc Khai submitted its proposal of developing a 100-boat fleet to hunt for fish in distant waters.

The company will account for 10 percent, or VND150 billion (US$7.06 million), of the VND1.5 trillion ($70.6 million) project, while the remaining VND1.35 trillion will be covered by bank loans, according to the document.

Duc Khai Co said it will import 95 fishing boats, and five logistics vessels from Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the US, plus two helicopters from the EU.

Tri Viet Co also sought permission to import used boats and build new ones, as well as bringing three rescue choppers.

Upon assessing their proposals, the agriculture ministry decided that the companies are not eligible to access the preferential loans.

The used fishing boats Duc Khai wanted to import are too old, manufactured in 1985, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam said in a document submitted to the government on August 18.

Similarly, 13 out of the 14 fishing boats Tri Viet Co intended to buy were built before 2000, some as early as 1978 and 1979, according to the agriculture ministry.

“Fishing boats are only eligible for imports if they have legal origins and aged no more than eight years from building to the time of import,” Tam said in the document, citing regulations taking effect in 2010.

“That Duc Khai wanted to import 100 ships nearly 30 years old is against the law.”

After knowing that their proposals were rejected, both companies said they already have alternative plans.

Pham Ngoc Lam, general director of Duc Khai Co, said he will continue the project, but at a smaller scale.

In the meantime, Tran Van Tri, chairman of Tri Viet Co, said the company will switch to buying 20 vessels from South Korea within this year.

Duc Khai and Tri Viet are the first businesses to ask to join a credit program intended to import or build 2,000 fishing boats with large capacity, according to the Agency for Exploitation and Protection of Fisheries Resources.

Businesses must contact the agriculture ministry before importing the vessels. The ministry will send experts to examine the boats to ensure them meet strict requirements and standards to be imported.

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