Need for policy to support cruise ships sunk by storms

Cruise ship owners "struggling" after storm

According to statistics from Quang Ninh province, the storm No. 3 caused 269 ships and boats operating in the province to sink. Of these, 28 were tourist boats taking visitors to Ha Long Bay. More than 20 days after the storm, only 9/28 tourist boats were salvaged.

Cruise ships are not among the subjects eligible for partial support for salvage costs in Resolution No. 42/2024/NQ-HDND dated September 23, 2024 of the People's Council of Quang Ninh province.

According to Mr. Tran Van Hong, Chairman of the Ha Long Tourist Boat Association, storm No. 3 has caused serious damage to many tourist boats carrying visitors and staying in the bay. To fix the damage, the boat owners need to hire a salvage company and tow the boat back to the repair shop at the lowest cost of 50 to 480 million VND for wooden boats and 350 to 1.5 billion VND for iron boats. In addition, the cost of repairing wooden sightseeing boats ranges from 500 million to 1 billion VND, iron sightseeing boats from 5 to 10 billion VND, and accommodation boats from 10 to 20 billion VND. Some boats may not be able to be restored and will have to be replaced or rebuilt.

This is a huge burden for cruise ship owners in the current context. When the "fishing rod" that they have invested a lot of effort and money in, mostly borrowed from banks, is still in the water and its fate is unknown. Meanwhile, they still have to ensure financial obligations to the bank and tax and fee policies.

Recently, the People's Council of Quang Ninh province issued Resolution No. 42/2024/NQ-HDND dated September 23, 2024 on a number of measures to support overcoming the consequences of storm No. 3 in the province. This includes partial support for the cost of salvaging production means such as ships and boats registered in Quang Ninh province that sank due to storm No. 3, which are subjects specified in Article 1 of Decision No. 118/2007/QD-TTg dated July 25, 2007 of the Prime Minister , with a support level of 15-50 million VND. According to this decision, tourist boats are not among the subjects receiving support.

Mr. Trieu's sunken ships were only salvaged after more than 3 weeks in the water.

After carefully studying the Provincial Resolution, Mr. Nguyen Duc Trieu - a business owner with 3 sunken and wrecked tourist ships at Tuan Chau International Passenger Port, sadly said: Since the Covid-19 pandemic, due to difficulties, many tourist ships have not purchased hull insurance. When we first heard about the policy to partially support the cost of salvaging sunken ships due to storm No. 3 of the province, we all thought that we would receive a sum of support from the province to share the burden of the cost of salvaging the ships. However, after carefully studying the subjects of support, there were only fishing vessels, aquaculture and fishing logistics services,... and no tourist ships.

According to Mr. Tran Viet Xo - a ship owner who sank at Tuan Chau International Passenger Port, he expressed his hope to receive support to salvage the ship like the subjects eligible for support in Resolution No. 42/2024/NQ-HDND of the Provincial People's Council to reduce the burden of overcoming the consequences of storm No. 3.

Not only Mr. Xo and Mr. Trieu, but all those who were unfortunate enough to have their cruise ships sunk in storm No. 3 hope that the province will have special mechanisms and policies to support them in recovering from the storm.

Dozens of cruise ships sunk at Tuan Chau port have yet to be salvaged.

Find ways to support cruise ships

At the meeting to discuss ways to resolve difficulties for cruise ships sunk in storm No. 3 on the afternoon of September 27, representatives of the Cruise Ship Association and cruise ship businesses proposed that the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province have solutions to support and connect with salvage, repair and new construction units to have solutions to support businesses; support access to capital sources such as debt deferral, new loans, tax reduction according to current regulations of the State; support legal procedures in granting certificates, vehicle registration, etc.

Responding to the petition of enterprises, Chairman of Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee Cao Tuong Huy affirmed: The tourist fleet is an inseparable part of the goal of effectively and sustainably exploiting the heritage and wonders of Ha Long Bay. However, some contents such as supporting the cost of salvaging ships in the State's regulations and policies do not have this clause.

Due to its unique nature, Quang Ninh has reported and proposed to the Government and the Ministry of Transport to guide, supplement and expand the support objects so that tourism boat businesses can partially cover the cost of salvaging and repairing damage to watercraft sunk or wrecked by storm No. 3.

Regarding the proposal to access capital, Chairman of the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee Cao Tuong Huy said that the province has worked with the State Bank and credit institutions to propose deferring debts and providing new loans in the form of unsecured loans. Currently, credit institutions are still implementing steps to provide specific instructions to individuals and organizations in need of accessing capital. Other units have also implemented tax exemption and reduction policies according to current regulations of the State.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/quang-ninh-can-co-chinh-sach-ho-tro-tau-du-lich-bi-dam-do-bao-10291305.html