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| Flyover heading into Hai Van Pass Tunnel, Lang Co Bay |
This resource endowment has created huge coastal industries for the Vietnam economy, especially with Vietnam's central position in South-East Asia that allows it to serve as gateway to Indochina (Laos, Cambodia, and to some extent Thailand) from the East.
It's long North-South coastline that runs parallel with one of Asia's key shipping lanes also offers several ship maintenance hubs (Hai Phong, Da Nang, Nha Trang, and Vung Tau). Vietnam's ship-building industry is subject to controversy. For more information, you can do a bit of digging around "Vinashin", Vietnam's state-owned ship building company that's been rebranded as Vinalines.
The country's magnificent tropical beaches also have a heavyweight contribution to the tourism industry, which as a whole welcomed an overseas population equivalent of the city of London or New York (each with 8 mln people) and accounts for almost 7% (USD 15 bn, GBP 11 bn) of GDP in 2015.
Left: Covered bridge looking into the garden and beach, Lang Co Beach Resort; Centre/Right: Cruising along the coastal roads around Da Nang/Hue is a must to absorb the beauty of the place
Beyond the shipping industries, Vietnam's seafood and fishing industry accounted for almost 4% (USD 7 bn, GBP 5 bn) of GDP in 2015. The Formosa scandal of 2016 saw the destruction of many thousand fishing livelihoods in the centre of Vietnam.
Enjoying freshly caught sea tamarind crab and prawns, Seafood place (unknown name) on stilts overlooking the inland waters of Lang Co Bay and hills in the background, head North on Nguyen Van from the southern most point and it's the first place on the left (you'll see a boardwalk heading out into the water to get to it), Lang Co
Thankfully, in the quaint and under-leveraged Lang Co Bay, lodged between the ancient royal citadel Hue and up and coming Da Nang city, locals are continuing a long-standing tradition of ship-building.
On the southern tip of the Lang Co peninsula, outside a beach-facing local council office, I found a crew of 3 male ship-builders. They were working tirelessly in the midday heat (39C) on a 15 metre long wooden fishing vessel.
When I met them, 2 of them were working on the outer hull while the 3rd chap had started working on water-proofing the inner wall of the hull with a black tar-like resin. One of the men told me that the wood was bought from the forests just west of Hue.
The chap went on to tell me that the 3 of them could complete such a vessel in just 1 month and sell it with a market value of VND 200 million (USD 8,800, GBP 7,300).
That implies that each of the 3 shipbuilders would take home around USD 2,400 or GBP 2,000 per month. This is a very handsome salary in Vietnam, especially for someone living outside the big cities. Consider that a university graduate would earn USD 350 or GBP 290 per month for an office job!
Though their salaries are relatively high, the work looked draining, not because of the complexity of the ship nor nature of the work but because of the heaving sun and heat. Unable to work during the night for lack of light and to avoid upsetting local residents with noise, who live about 20m set back from the shoreline, the only refuge from the offensive climates would be early mornings.The ship builders were middle-aged (in their 30s or early 40s) and would not have had any formal education beyond secondary school. They learnt their trade on the shores amongst other shipbuilders.
Long-term exposure to midday sun may result in skin problems later in life and potential loss of an income source for the men's families. For now, they graft in harsh weather climates to provide for their families' current needs.
