Delegates told the conference held in Hai Phong recently on developing subsidiary industries for shipbuilding that educational institutions needed to fulfill the shipping industry’s needs in terms of both quality and number of students.

Shipbuilders should step up cooperation with foreign partners and training units should sign agreements with international universities, they said.

Metallurgy, steel, engine-manufacturing, and other subsidiary industries and maritime services needed to be developed, they said.

In recent years the shipbuilding industry has grown considerably to meet domestic as well as export demands, building many new kinds of vessels.

It has acquired the capability to build cargo ships of up to 53,000 tonnes, container ships, oil tankers, and naval vessels.

But it still grapples with problems like dated technologies, poor infrastructure, and lack of skilled human resources.

Its support industries too remain weak. As a result, it has to import up to 90 percent of the equipment and materials it requires to build and repair vessels from China, Japan, Republic of Korea, and the EU, making it uncompetitive.

Nguyen Tang Cuong, director of Quang Trung Machinery Enterprise, said there was still a shortage of skilled personnel to build sophisticated vessels like tankers and others required by the oil and gas industry.

He also complained that his company had to retrain students graduating from some universities and colleges because of their lack of practical exposure.

Vietnam has just a few shipyards that can carry out repairs, especially to vessels of over 6,500 tonnes. Most large vessels have to go to other countries to their owners’ annoyance.