Witness the work of the 'sleepless squad' in the largest wholesale market in the Central region

TPO – Before Tet, Hoa Cuong wholesale market located in the center of Da Nang city receives trucks carrying agricultural products one and a half times, twice as many as usual. This means the loading and unloading and transportation teams work through the night.

January 19, 2025 | 11:42

TPO – Before Tet, Hoa Cuong wholesale market located in the center of Da Nang city receives trucks carrying agricultural products one and a half times, twice as many as usual. This means the loading and unloading and transportation teams work through the night.

From 7 p.m. onwards, containers carrying fruits begin to enter the market to unload their goods. This is the largest agricultural wholesale market in the Central region, specializing in wholesale and retail of vegetables, tubers, fruits, etc. Fruits near Tet are diverse, but the majority are oranges, tangerines, mangoes, apples, grapefruits, dragon fruits, etc. Photo: Thanh Hien.

The loading and unloading team is on standby, ready to start moving hundreds of tons of goods to the market kiosks and surrounding shops. Mr. Ngo Van Vu (Cam Le district) said that after the full moon of December, the number of container trucks carrying goods started to increase, about 20 trucks per night.

To ensure the goods reach the merchants’ counters, the team of porters has to work all night. Normally, they work until 2 or 3 am, but today they have to work until almost 6 am. Some days, when there are so many goods, they have to rest later.

To avoid confusion about items, volume, and delivery address, the porter team leader sits and compares the books and distributes goods overnight.

The fruit loading and unloading team in Hoa Cuong wholesale market currently has about 80 people, working in shifts. Mr. Tran Van Khoi, Team Leader, said: "During the days near Tet, we work regardless of the time, when the goods run out, we rest. I take care of management and books, but when there is a shortage of people, I also help the brothers carry the fruit." According to him, this job not only requires health and diligence, but also requires carefulness and dexterity because if the fruit falls or is hit hard, it will easily bruise and spoil.

Working all night, energy drinks and coffee are indispensable drinks for manual workers. Tran Ngoc Hai (from Binh Dinh) said that every night he pulls about 200 boxes of goods to deliver to all markets, and near Tet, the increase increases by one and a half to two times. To survive the cold rainy season, Hai takes advantage of sleeping during the day and eats a lot to avoid getting sick. Hai and his colleagues hate rainy days because they get wet and easily get sick, and the yard is slippery.

Each crate pulled from the truck to the vendor’s counter is paid 2,000 VND. A trip usually carries 10 crates. Each person usually pulls 300-400 crates at night, earning about 800,000 VND. During Tet, although the work is hard and long, this level of income makes everyone “greedy”.

Everyone’s eyes were sunken and drowsy from sleep. Only during Tet could they sleep soundly from night to morning. “We also wanted to help our children study at night and take the whole family out to play, but our jobs were like that, so we had to give up. For more than 20 years working at the wholesale market, I spent all my sleepless nights away from home,” said Ngo Van Vu.

After dragging tons of goods around the market in one night, their limbs were exhausted. During the short time waiting to unload the goods, they took the opportunity to rest. “Many times, when they finished work, it was already bright outside, and they were so weak that they couldn’t eat. They just ran home quickly to sleep until afternoon and then got back to work at night,” said Mr. Hau (50 years old).

Hoa Cuong wholesale market is the largest agricultural market in the Central region, with more than 500 stalls, supplying hundreds of tons of vegetables and fruits every day to Da Nang city and neighboring areas.

The streets were asleep, only the porters stayed awake and worked through the night.

Thanh Hien

Source: https://tienphong.vn/tan-thay-cong-viec-cua-biet-doi-khong-ngu-trong-cho-dau-moi-lon-nhat-mien-trung-post1710627.tpo