A private company in HCM City is planning to invest some VND1.5 trillion (USD71.4 million) into buy 95 fishing ships with equipment to be used on the East Sea.

The Duc Khai Company also plans to buy rescue ships and two helicopters for emergency cases. Their representatives will fly to South Korea this week to negotiate and make the purchases of the first 12 fishing ships. Pham Ngoc Lam, chairman of Duc Khai Company said this is purely an investment, it is not a PR tactic nor has it political purposes, as some rumours have said.

According to Lam, he travelled abroad to inspect the ships directly. 45 ships will be bought from South Korean partners. They expect to receive all of the ships in August. Duc Khai Company will also buy more ships from Japan, the US and Australia.

Each ship costs from VND6 billion to VND10 billion. Afterwards, Duc Khai Company will spend VND2-4 billion more on each ship to equip it for fishing. These ships are already 10 years old, but representatives from Duc Khai Company said they still have 30 to 40 more years of use left. They can run at 22 nautical miles per hour with modern navigation equipment.

Instead of taking 50% of profits from their expeditions, the company will only take 34%, with 65% going to the crew, and 1% deposited into a fund for fishermen.

Fishing ships

500-1,500 horsepower engines

Each ship costs VND6-10 billion

The ships are equipped with modern equipment

A model of Duc Khai's ship