VIB Forum interviewed Nguyen Van Hoc, general director of the Pha Rung Shipbuilding Company.
Can you highlight your company’s activities over the past years?
In 2003 and 2004, an important landmark was seen in the development of Pha Rung Ship Repair Factory (Pha Rung Shipbuilding Company today) when the factory began to build ships instead of repairing them as in the past years. This is an important turning point of the enterprise’s development. With a new task, we have implement the design, building and testing work. To help our company, the Vietnam National Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (VINASHIN) has allowed us to upgrade and expand our factory to start the second phase, with two goals of repairing 16,000 DWT ships and building 35,000- 40,000 DWT ships.
Thanks to this production adjustment, the company has gained a high growth rate, generating jobs for 1,300 people and is gaining a double year-on-year increase in production output and revenues.
In ten months of 2005, we handed over the Cai Lan 1 and Au Co 1 ships. Also, we have won contracts on building ships for export to the UK (eight 34,000 DWT ships), and the Republic of Korea (five 6,500 DWT ships). We are striving to earn VND 450 billion in our production output and VND 380 billion in revenues.
At present, enterprises face many difficulties due to a high overhead increases. How has your company done to keep your services, products and trademark standing firm during interntional integration?
The shipbuilding industry’s feature is that prices cannot be adjusted immediately, so we have taken such measures as management promotion, quality improvement and production and productivity increase and market seeking boost. The company is developing a business model with the general director, deputy general directors, heads of works, team leaders and worker team. The model is quite effective, satisfying our customers’ requirements in ship repair and building.
Also, to increase our competitiveness, we have applied the ISO 9001:2000 quality management system of DETNORKE VERITAS. This is the first certificate in the ship repair and building industry.
Each year, we send our staff members to join training courses organised in Poland and Japan.
We have bought a 4,200 floating docks for ship repair services, a 200-tonne crane, a slipway, workshops and machines for building 40,000 DWT ships. Also, the company has promoted co-operation with foreign partners.
In recent years, policies on shipbuilding development have improved. However, for a further development of the industry, more open mechanisms and policies are needed. What do you think about it?
We would like to propose the Ministry of Finance and banks offer more favourable conditions to help shipbuilding enterprises get loans as current capital for shipbuilding is often huge and its payback period is often long. Also, there should be mechanisms in which shipbuilding enterprises should be prioritised to pay tax on imported materials for shipbuilding. Authorised agencies should provide further support for our activities, promoting land allocation for our approved projects.
Le Hien
Vietnamese
