Long Hau Commune in Lai Vung District, Dong Thap Province is famous for building boats in the south’s watery area. Every year when flood season comes, the villagers are busy with orders from customers of neighbouring areas.
Boats are a popular means of transport in the south’s watery area.
One day we visited the hamlets of Long Hau and Long Hung 2 which are considered the centre of the boat building area in Long Hau. The boat took us across the Ba Dai Canal that winds through hamlets scattered in lush orchards. On the way to the hamlets, we heard the sounds of hammers, chisels, saws and motorboat engines, and saw numerous boats of different kinds and sizes on both the canal and the shore.
Nguyen Thanh Nam, a grandchild of Pham Van Thuong, who is a talented artisan in the area with 50 years of experience in building boats, told us a little of the history of the business. The ancestor of the boat building in Long Hau is Pham Van Thuong, also called Sau Xuong Cui by the locals. No one knows the province he is from but the story goes that he got married to a local girl and set up his own business in the area. Firstly, he only built boats for his relatives, then he taught his neighbours the techniques of boat building that gradually spread through the whole region. In the past, the locals only built Xuong Cui, a type of boat used to catch fish, they now build different kinds of boats.”
Boats are a means for doing business of the locals.
During flood season, boats are not only a major means of transport for locals in the region, but are also used to catch fish so the demand for boats is great. Therefore, boat building has strongly developed in the commune which becomes a reliable place to shop for customers from the provinces of Can Tho, An giang, Kien Giang and Vinh Long.
The locals build boats all year round, however, the peak time is from early April to late August, according to the lunar calendar. Among different kinds of boats, Xuong Cui and Xuong Tho which are used to catch fish are the best sellers in the region and sometimes the supply cannot meet the demand.
According to Tran Van Hung, Chairman of Long Hau Commune People’s Committee, Long Hau Commune now has 150 boat building workshops, providing jobs for over 1,200 people. Each employee can earn over 3.5 million dong/month. On average, an employee can build a small boat/day, but a large capacity boat takes him at least 45 days. At present, a small boat is sold for 500,000-1.5 million dong while a large one is sold for 180-300 million dong. Each year, the commune sells nearly 4,000 boats.
To promote and develop the business, Dong Thap Province has recently devised many polices on assisting local households with capital and techniques. The locals now use modern machines and apply advanced technology to building boats that help save time and improve the quality and capacity of the products. Although there were times when the business of boat building was not popular, the locals in Long Hau have still closely attached to the business and they believe that younger generations will preserve their ancestors’ traditional business.
Long Hau is famous for building boats in the south’s watery area.
The business provides regular jobs to the locals.
The locals in Long Hau are skilled at building wooden boats.
An employee can build a small boat/day.
Launching a new boat.
Source: VNP