Before the information about "death" and ending the construction of wooden-hulled tourist boats operating in Ha Long Bay before 2030, a representative of the Department of Transport of Quang Ninh province said that there is no regulation prohibiting the construction of wooden-hulled boats or not allowing wooden-hulled tourist boats to operate in Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay.
According to the plan to develop the tourist fleet in Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay, Quang Ninh Province aims to have 100% of its vessels newly built by 2030, replaced with steel hulls or equivalent materials. According to Deputy Director of the Department of Transport of Quang Ninh Province Bui Hong Minh, this does not mean banning the construction of wooden tourist boats or banning wooden tourist boats from operating in Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay.
However, by 2030, most wooden cruise ships in Ha Long Bay will have reached the end of their useful life and if they want to continue operating, they will have to build new ships to replace the old ones. Therefore, Quang Ninh province encourages ship owners to replace wooden-hulled ships with steel-hulled ships or ships made of equivalent materials.
Previously, before 2015, due to frequent fires and sinkings of tourist boats in Ha Long Bay, mainly on old, unsafe wooden-hulled boats, the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province issued Decision 4088/2015/QD-UBND dated December 21, 2015, temporarily regulating the management of tourist boat activities in Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay.
In particular, the operating life of cruise ships must be shortened compared to the general regulations nationwide and newly built ships must be built with composite materials, steel or equivalent metals.
This led to complaints from ship owners and the Department of Inspection of Legal Documents, Ministry of Justice "blowing the whistle" on Quang Ninh province for issuing documents that did not comply with regulations.
On October 8, 2024, the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province issued Decision No. 43/2024/QD-UBND temporarily regulating the management of tourist boat activities in Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay, replacing Decision 4088/2015/QD-UBND dated December 21, 2015.
According to this latest decision, the operating life of tourist boats in Ha Long Bay and Bai Tu Long Bay is applied with the same standards nationwide; at the same time, no newly built boat must be built with composite materials, steel or equivalent metals.
Currently, in Ha Long Bay there are still nearly 200 wooden-hulled tourist boats, including both day sightseeing boats and overnight boats.
Talking to Lao Dong, many owners of wooden-hulled tourist boats said that they still have plans to replace wooden-hulled boats with steel-hulled boats, both because of safety factors and because of fierce competition between tourist boats in Ha Long Bay due to the large number of tourist boats compared to the tourist market.
