4 Requirements When Starting Your Shipbuilding Business In Vietnam

In Vietnam, shipbuilding, including ship conversion, is a conditional business with specific legal requirements regarding engineering, safety, environment, and quality as prescribed in Vietnamese Admiralty Law 2015, Decree No. 111/2016/NĐ-CP, and Decree No. 147/2018/NĐ-CP. Both foreign and domestic investors have to make sure that they can meet all the requirements, although stringent, before proceeding with their businesses.

Requirements regarding engineers, shipbuilders, and quality evaluation crew:

a) Engineers:

Engineers have at least 24 months of experience in shipbuilding, ship conversion, or ship repair.

b) Shipbuilders:

For shipbuilding that uses metal materials on ship hull: at least 05 metal welders, 02 mechanics, 02 electricians, and 03 painters qualified under national standards for shipbuilding and ship conversion.

For shipbuilding that use non-materials on ship hull: at least 03 shipbuilders specialized in ship hull construction, a mechanic, an electrician, and 02 painters qualified under national standards for shipbuilding and ship conversion.

c) Quality evaluation crew:

The requirements for quality evaluation crew depends on the shipbuilding facility which is categorized into two types, as prescribed in Article 3 of Decree No. 111/2016/NĐ-CP.

• For type 01 facility: at least 04 persons with a bachelor degree specialized in shipbuilding, 04 persons with a bachelor degree in ship machinery, and 02 persons with a bachelor degree in ship’s electrical system.
• For type 02 facility: at least 02 persons with a bachelor degree specialized in shipbuilding, 02 persons with a bachelor degree in ship machinery, and one person with a bachelor degree in ship’s electrical system.

Requirements regarding facilities and equipment:

The guarantee of sufficient facilities and equipments in conformity with national standards for shipbuilding.

Requirements regarding safety, sanitary, fire prevention and extinguishing, environment protection:

In addition, shipbuilders must provide means for ship’s waste collection and process under International Convention for the prevention of environmental pollution caused by ships to which Vietnam is a member (MARPOL convention) and other relevant regulations.

Quality control system:

For type 1 facility: establish quality control system under ISO 9001 standard or equivalent and safety – environment management system under ISO 14001 standard or equivalent within 12 months from the day the all operational requirements are met, and maintain the system throughout the operation.

For type 2 facility: establish quality control system under ISO 9001 standard or equivalent within 12 months from the day all operational requirements are met, and maintain the system throughout the operation.

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