Many fishing boat broke down
A number of steel-clad boats have revealed to be poor quality after being put into use a short while.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked local authorities in coastal areas to review the shipbuilding companies and the provincial chairmen must take responsibility for the task.
Local authorities are asked to hold training classes for the crew to work on new boats and equipment and monitor the maintenance work.
Many fishing boats in Binh Dinh Province were reported to have problems as soon as they were put into use. Boat owner Nguyen Van Manh said his boat was put into use in last August. But during the first trip, their nets were sucked into the boat propeller. He spent VND1.5bn (USD66,000) to fix the boat but during the next trip, a wave swept away the steering wheel. Then on the third trip, the water was trapped inside his hull and ruined their batches of fish.
Then a month ago, he was told that his boat had deteriorated badly. "I still owe the bank VND13.6bn (USD598,000). I thought my job would get easier with a steel-clad vessel but in fact, I lost nearly VND500m," he said.
According to Binh Dinh Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, they have checked three boats and noticed that the steel parts became rusty in a short time and boat owners incurred huge losses because of broken equipment. Shipbuilding company, Dai Nguyen Duong, will pay for the repair as the boats are still under warranty.
The department also inspected and found similar problems on four boats built by Nam Trieu Company.
