"Unleashing" businesses buying and selling ships

Amending and supplementing relevant regulations to "untie" businesses to upgrade their fleets to avoid falling behind and increase business efficiency is very urgent.

Difficulty negotiating with shipbuilding partners

For over 10 years now, the fleet of Vietnam Maritime Transport Joint Stock Company (Vosco) has been shrinking due to lack of investment in new ships, while many old ships have had to be liquidated.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Minh, General Director of Vosco, said that the company had planned to invest in 6 new ships, but so far, this project has been postponed indefinitely because of the failure to negotiate with foreign partners.

Businesses expect regulations on the purchase, construction and registration of ships to be adjusted to help businesses develop their fleets.

The reason is that Vosco is a state-owned enterprise, so all ship buying and selling activities must comply with Decree 171 regulating the registration, deregistration, purchase, sale and construction of new ships (amended by Decree 86).

The shipbuilding or purchase of this enterprise must be done through bidding. The bidding process and procedures are quite complicated, lasting many months and requiring policies and confirmation from competent authorities. Meanwhile, partners always want early confirmation on whether to cooperate or not.

"According to the regulations, we have to report and ask for investment policy from Vietnam National Shipping Lines. Once there is a policy, the enterprise can proceed with the next steps such as finding out what type of ship, what series of ship... Meanwhile, the world of ship trading has its own practices, they do not wait for us to complete the procedures for that long.

"If the regulations are not amended soon, perhaps in a few years state-owned enterprises will not be able to invest in more ships," Mr. Minh shared.

How to buy and sell ships in the world?

According to experts, the purchase and sale of ships in the international market is quite simple. Enterprises wishing to purchase ships will contact brokerage units to be able to buy and sell legally, ensuring the accuracy of prices. Enterprises make requests about the size, tonnage, age, origin, main engine, and the brokerage unit will conduct the search and offer prices.

Normally, it takes about 3-6 months to find a ship with suitable criteria, and it also takes time for the buyer to research and determine the ship's condition before agreeing on whether to buy or not. When both parties agree, the transaction will proceed.

However, there are also cases where the ship owner does not sell openly on the market but only negotiates bilaterally with the partner to sell the ship. Therefore, the purchase and sale of ships in the international market is only on a mutually agreeable basis, without bidding or competitive offers.

According to Mr. Nguyen Dai Hai, Deputy Director of Tan Cang Shipping Joint Stock Company, one of the current difficulties is the regulation that the person who decides to buy or sell ships must be responsible for business efficiency.

This makes it difficult for businesses, because business efficiency is difficult to guarantee in advance, because everything changes according to the market. If the regulations are amended, they need to be clear because otherwise, businesses will see mistakes wherever they do and will be reluctant to invest in their fleet.

Resolving difficulties for businesses

The Law on Bidding, effective from January 1, 2024, has been relaxed for joint-stock enterprises. However, according to Mr. Nguyen Quang Minh, due to inappropriate regulations, the fleets of state-owned enterprises have been surpassed by many private companies in recent times.

According to a maritime expert, recently, the development of the fleet between state-owned enterprises and private companies has been in reverse. While some private ship owners seize the opportunity to invest and increase the capacity of their own fleets, the fleets of state-owned enterprises have developed more slowly.

According to Giao thong Newspaper, the Ministry of Transport is seeking comments on the draft Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 171. Notably, the draft has removed the content that "buying, selling, and building new ships is a special investment activity". The form, implementation process, authority to approve policies, decisions on buying, selling, and building new ships... are also abolished.

Experts say this will ease the difficulties for state-owned enterprises operating in maritime transport. To sell ships, enterprises do not need to conduct auction procedures.

Similarly, with the purchase of ships, the draft also removes difficult procedures such as: Approval of the policy of purchasing ships; selection of ships, estimated purchase price and costs related to ship purchase transactions; establishment, appraisal and approval of ship purchase projects.

According to the Ministry of Transport, this is to avoid overlapping in the content of guidance on specialized legal documents on investment and capital management, creating favorable conditions for businesses to invest in buying, selling, and building new ships using state capital.

According to the draft Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 171, the purchase, sale and construction of new ships using State budget capital shall comply with the provisions of the State Budget Law and the Public Investment Law.

Enterprises in which the State holds 100% of charter capital shall comply with the provisions of the Law on Bidding and other relevant regulations.

Organizations and individuals engaged in the purchase, sale, and construction of new ships not falling under the above cases may freely decide to apply all or specific provisions, terms, and points of the Law on Bidding and other relevant regulations.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/coi-troi-cho-doanh-nghiep-mua-ban-tau-bien-192240823004743884.htm