Types of ships to be imported for breaking in Vietnam

Types of ships to be imported for breaking in Vietnam (Internet image) 

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Types of ships to be imported for breaking in Vietnam 

Pursuant to Article 5 of Decree 82/2019/ND-CP, the following used nonmetallic hull ships are allowed to be imported for breaking:

- Ships carrying dry cargo, including general cargo, bulk cargo, equipment, wood chips, timber, grains, packaged merchandise, and iron and steel products.

- Container ships.

- Ore carriers.

- Ships carrying liquid cargo, including crude oil, oil products and vegetable oil.

- Ships carrying gases or liquefied gases.

- Ro-Ro ships, passenger ships, sea barges and ferries.

2. Ship-breaking plan in Vietnam

Article 13 of Decree 82/2019/ND-CP stipulates ahip-breaking plan as follows:

- Before carrying out ship-breaking operations, the owner of the ship-breaking facility shall prepare and apply for approval for its ship-breaking plan in accordance with Clause 2 of Article 13 of Decree 82/2019/ND-CP.

- The ship-breaking plan shall, inter alia, include the following contents:

+ General information: Name and address of the importer; name and address of the ship-breaking facility; details of the ship to be demolished (name, flag state and specifications of the ship);

+ Information relating to the ship-breaking:  Ship-breaking technological process (the order of the ship’s items to be dismantled, enclosed with its general arrangement drawing, the drawing of the ship-breaking site which is included in the general layout of the ship-breaking facility); equipment and personnel performing ship-breaking activities; date of commencement and date of completion of the ship-breaking;

+ Information relating to occupational safety measures, environmental sanitation measures, measures against fire, explosion and environmental pollution.  

3. Requirements to be satisfied to put a ship-breaking facility into operation in Vietnam

Article 7 of Decree 82/2019/ND-CP (amended in Decree 08/2022/ND-CP) stipulates that a ship-breaking facility is required to meet the following requirements:

- It must have wharfs and navigational channels published in accordance with Decree 58/2017/ND-CP.

-It must satisfy the environmental protection requirements and be issued with the environmental license by MONRE

- It must have personnel and procedures for control of hazards and harmful factors, and the plan for handling serious technical incidents threatening occupational safety and health in accordance with Decree 39/2016/ND-CP.

- It must meet fire prevention and control requirements and have a firefighting plan in accordance with Decree 79/2014/ND-CP.

4. Decision to shut down a ship-breaking facility in Vietnam

Article 12 of Decree 82/2019/ND-CP stipulates the decision to shut down a ship-breaking facility as follows:

- At the request of a competent authority, Ministry of Transport shall decide to shut down the ship-breaking facility in the following circumstances:

+ The ship-breaking facility fails to meet requirements laid down in Article 7 of Decree 82/2019/ND-CP;

+ The ship-breaking facility must be shut down because of national defense and security reasons;

+ It must be shut down in case of epidemics, disasters and other cases as prescribed by laws.

- Based on recommendations specified in the written request of a competent authority, within 05 business days from the receipt of such request, the Ministry of Transport shall consider making a decision to shut down the ship-breaking facility. If Ministry of Transport decides not to shut down the ship-breaking facility, it shall provide written reasons thereof.

- Ministry of Transport shall inform relevant authorities and publish the decision to shut down the ship-breaking facility on its website.

Ho Quoc Tuan

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