After years of sitting idle, the run-down floating dock purchased by state-owned Vinalines is finally someone else's problem.
According to Thanh Nien, the Vietnamese government offloaded the Japanese-made 83M dock for US$1.7 million at an auction with just three bidders. The floating dock sold for just a bit higher than the minimum reserve price of VND34.8 billion (US$1.56 million).
Since its purchase in 2008, the 83M dock had been something of an albatross for the Vietnamese government. Its rusting frame served as a reminder of the 2012 Vinalines scandal in which company chairman Duong Chi Dung and company director Mai Van Phuc received VND10 billion (US$446,229) apiece in kickbacks from the poorly orchestrated deal.
Vinalines originally bought the heavily damaged dock secondhand from Russian firm Nakhodka for four times the expected US$2.3 million price. After spending US$10.5 million to repair 83M, work was eventually suspended in 2012 as Dung and Phuc went to trial along with eight other company executives and customs officials.
Between the ongoing legal action and Vinalines' failure to find a partner with whom to jointly operate the floating dock, 83M sat abandoned for years, racking up insurance and port fees which brought the total cost of the unused dock to a staggering US$22 million.
[Photo via Thanh Nien]
