Sang Fish 01 was the second of its kind to be built under a pilot programme to modernise Việt Nam’s offshore fishing fleet. — Photo Vietnamplus.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Việt Nam Ship Building Industry Corporation (SBIC) has promised to solve all issues raised by fishermen from Đà Nẵng and Quảng Ngãi pertaining to broken steel-hulled fishing boats, according to a corporation representative.

Nguyễn Ngọc Sự, chairman of SBIC’s council, told VietnamPlus that the corporation was willing to accept boats returned by fishermen who suffered commercial losses.

Lê Văn Sang, owner of a Sang Fish 01 boat, said the boat had not worked properly for the past six months ever since it broke down. He said the boat had problems about six out of every 10 fishing trips.

Sang said he decided to return it to the manufacturer because he didn’t have enough money to pay for it to be repaired.

Mai Thành Văn, from the central province of Quảng Ngãi, returned the Hoàng Anh 01 ship to the Nha Trang Shipbuilding One-Member Co Ltd for the same reason.

Sang Fish 01 and Hoàng Anh 01 were the first two steel-hulled fishing boats to be built under Government Decree 67, which stipulates policies on investment, credit, insurance and tax incentives to support fishermen and ship owners who wish to build new fishing boats or upgrade their existing ones.

Sang Fish 01 is 25.21m in length and 7.8m in width, has six cargo holds and can accommodate 18 crew members. In addition, the boats are equipped with GPS trackers, long-range communication devices and other modern equipment.

Each has a 750-horsepower engine, and the cost of the vessel, including equipment on board, is VNĐ7.3 billion (US$327,550).

Sự said the reason why Sang Fish 01 ship broke down was because some professional fishermen are accustomed to operating wooden boats, but are unfamiliar with the new style of steel-hulled fishing boats.

He also blamed the purchasing of secondhand engines for the boat’s failure.

Sự said other boats built by SBIC operated normally.

Under the decree dated July 7, 2014, fishermen can borrow 70-95 per cent of the funds needed to build and upgrade their boats depending on the model and engine capacity. The measure aimed to help fishermen build boats that were safer and more effective than their wooden ones, thus raising their incomes.

The lending term lasts 11 years, and interest rates range from one to three per cent per annum. — VNS