The owner and captain of the central region’s largest fisheries support ship, 29-year-old Le Van Sang from Hai Chau District, said that his ship frequently operates near the location where China has illegally positioned its oil drilling rig.  Its purpose is to supply necessary provisions to fishing boats, and to buy the seafood caught at sea directly from the fishermen.

Mr Sang said that in May, he had made 10 trips to the Hoang Sa fishing grounds.  As a result, he brought home over 300 tonnes of seafood in total, and provided over 100 tonnes of fuel and necessary provisions to offshore fishermen.  In the first 10 days of June, his ship has made a further 3 journeys, and landed around 90 tonnes of seafood.

Mr Sang’s new steel-hulled fishing boat

Despite his young age, Mr Sang has more than 10 years’ experience in offshore fishing.  He now owns two high-capacity support ships, including one of 1,195 horsepower which is the central region’s largest. 

Mr Sang and his brother-in-law now own a new steel-hulled boat which has just been launched in Khanh Hoa Province’s Cam Ranh City.  The near 11 billion VND, 800 horsepower, over 25m-long boat is installed with a Global Positioning System (GPS) system, and it features a seafood freezer which can hold nearly 200 tonnes of seafood.

Mr Sang said that the steel-hulled boat will bring benefits to fishermen.  In particular, the ship will help to reduce fuel consumption, and increase the efficiency of fishing activities.  It will be able to withstand poor sea conditions and direct collisions with Chinese boats, and it is equipped with modern seafood preservation technology.  He added that he will access preferential loans from the Vietnamese government’s 10 trillion VND credit package to build 2 more steel-hulled boat in the future.