VietNamNet Bridge – The decision to keep stricter control over the ships serving travelers at Ha Long Bay has made ships’ owners suffer: they have been prohibited to leave stations.

 

16 ships prohibited to leave stations

 

The two shipwreck cases which occurred within three months have made tourists hesitant to come to Ha Long Bay. Meanwhile, the ones who come to Ha Long Bay these days do not register the tours of spending nights on ships, the service which was considered the most attractive service until the troubles occurred.

 

Especially after the latest accident, which occurred with Hai Long Ship, the Ha Long City’s authorities have set up new regulations to control tourism ships at Ha Long Bay more strictly.

 

The Hai Long shipwreck has implicated 17 other ships. While 16 ships are not allowed to operate; one ship has got permission to resume operation. The problem is that Hai Long is one of the 18 ships which have been registered recently. After Hai Long ship got wrecked, all the other ships which were registered at the same time, were asked not to leave the station.

 

The decision by the local authorities has caused big difficulties to the owners of the ships. Some enterprises have more than one ship listed among the 18 newly registered ships. Huong Hai Company, for example, has five ships, while the Ha Long Tourism Development Company has two, and Minh Quang Tourism Firm has two.

 

As ships are not allowed to serve travelers, they are losing big money. Bui Duc Long, Deputy Director of Huong Hai Company, said that with five ships staying at the station every day, the company is losing 80 million dong.

 

“We understand that local authorities need to be cautious after the accident, but they should be more flexible. They should allow the ships which can meet the requirements, to resume operation,” he said.

 

Prior to that, after Truong Hai ship got wrecked, which killed 12 people, on March 15, the Quang Ninh provincial authorities released the Decision No 716, stipulating the regulations on the operation of the ships at Ha Long Bay. New requirements on the safety, technical conditions and qualifications of the crew have been set up. However, many regulations have not been applauded by ship owners.

 

Doan Van Dung, Director of Dong Duong (Indochina) Yacht Company, said that he never saw any regulation on the age of ships before. Ships’ owners simply consider the situation of the ships and upgrade necessary items to meet the requirements set by the registration agency.

 

Under the Decision No 716, as for third class ships: the ships must not be older than eight years for wooden ship cover, and they must be older than 11 years for the ships with steel made covers. As for second class ships: the maximum life expectancy would be 7 years and 10 years for wooden and steel-made cover ships, respectively; and as for first class ships, the figures would be six years and eight years.

 

Ship owners have pointed out that with the new regulation, they would rather spend less money to build the ships good enough for a certain time, rather than spending big money to build high quality ships.

 

The ship owners also said that if referring to the Decision 716, nearly all the ships will not meet the requirements.

 

Safety first

 

Local agencies still believe that it is necessary to apply strict regulations in order to tighten the control over ships.

 

Nguyen Van Khai, Deputy Director of the Quang Ninh Waterway Port Authorities, the agency which grants licenses to ships, said he understands well the difficulties ships’ owners are facing. However, he said: “safety is the priority”.

 

He said that every day, the agency grant licenses to 700 ships to leave the stations and the agency needs to be cautious when granting licenses

 

Source: Lao dong