Merchants abandoned the floating market, unemployed porters struggled to make a living.

The Can Tho Riverbank Embankment Project - Responding to Climate Change, which started in June 2016, is expected to be one of the key projects to change the face of the Tay Do river city, protect infrastructure as well as improve the quality of life of local people. However, at the stage when the project is about to be completed, many people who make a living in the floating market can only sigh when facing the risk of losing their jobs.

The Can Tho River Embankment Project makes agricultural product trading on the floating market difficult (Photo: Bao Tran).

The Can Tho River Embankment Project has a significant impact on Cai Rang Floating Market (Photo: Bao Tran).

The Can Tho River Embankment Project has "separated" the relationship between merchants and the floating market, which has existed for more than a hundred years and is considered a local heritage (Photo: Bao Tran).

"We just ask for a place to stay to earn a living"

Looking towards Cai Rang Bridge, Ms. Dang Thi Man (born in 1969, residing in Hung Loi Ward, Can Tho City) sighed when asked about her upcoming plans: "Let's see where it goes, what else can we do? If I can't do this job anymore, I'll sell lottery tickets or wash dishes to raise my children."

Having worked as a porter for 18 years, raising two children alone, life has been difficult, but this is the first time Mrs. Man has been in a state of anxiety when seeing the Can Tho River Embankment gradually being completed.

Every day, for each ton of goods, Mrs. Man gets 100,000 VND in wages. If she also works as a ferryman, she will earn an additional 100,000 VND. Every day, the trader carries 2-3 tons of goods, and her income can fluctuate from 300,000-500,000 VND.

"Now it's not even half as good as before. Partly because the warehouse owner quit the business, the goods are not as much as before. Before, we could only get about ten tons a day. Now, we do very little."

Ms. Man has been a porter and boat driver on Cai Rang floating market for more than 20 years (Photo: Bao Tran).

Not only Mrs. Man, many porters at the floating market are too old to work, they can only rely on merchants to make a living. If the merchants abandon the market, the risk of them losing their jobs and being left with nothing is very high (Photo: Bao Tran).

According to Ms. Man, in the past, merchant boats transported agricultural products to the bustling floating market, and each person could earn about 400,000-700,000 VND/day just by loading goods.

"In the past, there was a wharf, so goods could be loaded freely. Now, wherever there is no concrete, we build temporary bridges to load goods. Since the embankment was built, we have changed more than a dozen loading points. Wherever they build, I have to move," said Ms. Man.

Sharing the same situation as Mrs. Man, Mr. Ho Quang Vinh (living in Can Tho) has been making a living as a porter for 10 years now but is also facing the risk of losing his job and quitting his job.

"The embankment is high, lifting goods takes a lot of effort and time. Many people quit because the work is getting harder and harder, they can't do it anymore. We are too old to be workers, our education is poor, and no factory here is hiring, so besides using our strength to earn money, we don't have the opportunity to do other jobs."

Mr. Ho Quang Vinh has been a porter at the floating market for more than ten years (Photo: Bao Tran).

Merchants and porters struggle amid reinforced concrete (Photo: Bao Tran).

Loading and unloading goods is difficult, requires labor, transportation costs and hiring workers, so many merchants have abandoned the floating market (Photo: Bao Tran).

Mr. Vinh told us that he and many others had to go pick cajuput trees to plant stakes to build a temporary bridge. Wherever the River Embankment construction team left empty space, they moved the temporary bridge there.

Not only porters, but many boatmen on the floating market also face the risk of losing their jobs after the river embankment is completed.

"Once the embankment is built, merchants will have difficulty unloading goods and will have to leave the floating market. Boatmen will not know what goods they will carry to make a living," lamented a boatman with decades of experience.

"Merchants are the soul of the floating market"

The reality is that many traders have given up their jobs and no longer trade regularly on the floating market. On the other hand, some gardeners have also decided to open warehouses on the shore, without the need for traders.

Photo caption: People had to pick up trees and build temporary bridges to get to the goods.

Confiding in us, an agricultural warehouse owner in Can Tho City said that he and many other affected people just wish for a place to load and unload goods to make a living.

"Building an embankment is definitely necessary because the water level is rising day by day. Building an embankment is to worry about the people, but we have to worry about it thoroughly. This is an agricultural trading point in the city. Merchants and warehouse owners all trade goods here. We just sincerely hope to have a wharf to load and unload goods."

Talking to reporters, cultural researcher Nham Hung emphasized that "merchants" are the soul of the floating market. It is necessary to retain the merchants in order to hope to preserve the culture of the floating market.

"To preserve floating market culture, we must first preserve merchants. Because merchants are the ones who create floating market culture, and the subjects of the floating market are merchants."

According to Mr. Hung, it is necessary to turn the embankment into a floating market embankment, creating conditions for traders to stay and minimizing the risk of traders abandoning the market.

"Our floating market space is multi-dimensionally connected from the shore to the river. When trading encounters many difficulties, takes a lot of time and costs transportation, it is only a matter of time before they leave," Mr. Hung shared.

In 2016, Cai Rang floating market was recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. At the end of June, the State Management Board for the preservation and promotion of the intangible cultural heritage of Cai Rang floating market was established with many projects to preserve and develop business and tourism in the floating market. Currently, the city has entered the second phase of the project.

The Can Tho River Embankment Construction Project is invested by the Can Tho City Construction Investment Project Management Board with a total length of 5,160m. The project is funded by ODA capital from the French Development Agency and is expected to be completed on December 31, 2023.

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