A dormant steel factory in Vietnam, once a promising investment, now lies abandoned and forgotten.
The Hot-Rolled Steel Plate Mill in Cái Lân, owned by the State-owned Corporation for Shipbuilding Industry (SBIC), was built by Vinashin Group in 2003 with an investment of over 3,000 billion VND. The mill is located in the Cái Lân Industrial Park in Hạ Long City, Quảng Ninh Province, spanning an area of 15 hectares.
When Vinashin invested in this project, it was expected to become Vietnam’s first and largest hot-rolled steel plate mill with a wide range. The domestic shipbuilding industry once hoped that this mill would supply most of the large steel plates to replace imports for building ships with a capacity of tens of thousands of tons.
Strategically located next to the Hạ Long Shipyard, the mill was intended to meet the demands of the shipbuilding industry and supply large steel plates to other companies within the Vinashin Group.
In its initial phase, the mill had a production capacity of 500,000 tons per year, an 8-ton-per-hour furnace, a rolling mill, a cooling bed, a cutting machine, and a straightening machine—all featuring advanced Chinese technology. Unfortunately, this equipment was only operated once in 2010 before being abandoned and left idle ever since.
According to Tiền Phong Newspaper, this dormant mill has become a forgotten “iron block.” After Storm No. 3 (Yagi) in September, the factory’s roof was almost entirely torn off.
The mill is surrounded by fences, with no workers operating or maintaining the equipment. Only a handful of guards are left to watch over this abandoned asset worth thousands of billions of VND.
Inside, the machinery and equipment lie dormant, covered in dust for almost 15 years. Many unused spare parts and components remain untouched in their original packaging.
The unused and untouched spare parts and components, still in their original packaging, are a testament to the mill’s dormant state.
The abandoned equipment and steel structures, left to deteriorate and rust, resemble a pile of scrap metal.
According to the Cái Lân Hot-Rolled Steel Plate Company, the reason for this mill’s abandonment is the financial losses incurred by its parent company, Vinashin. As a result, the subsidiary companies also suffered a similar fate. After the Vinashin scandal, attempts were made to sell the mill, but no buyers showed interest due to its outdated technology and significant debt, mainly from government bonds and bank loans, creating a barrier to reviving production.
It’s hard to imagine this place in its current state of disrepair, as it was once intended to be a major supplier of steel plates to Vietnam’s shipbuilding industry.
Once a symbol of hope, the mill has gradually faded from the memory of Vietnamese shipbuilding engineers. The only remaining traces are the fading logo and signboard of the Cái Lân Steel Company – Vinashin.
“During my time working in this industrial park, I have never seen a single worker inside the Cái Lân Hot-Rolled Steel Mill. The gates are always locked, and there is no sound of machinery operating,” said N.T.D., a 30-year-old worker at the Cái Lân Industrial Park.
This abandoned “legacy” from the Vinashin era faced another setback when the Quảng Ninh Tax Department decided to enforce tax administrative decisions by suspending the use of invoices due to overdue payments. The amount subject to enforcement was over 4.1 billion VND.
With no possibility of restructuring, resuming production, or finding a buyer, this billion-dollar mill remains idle in the bustling industrial zone of Hạ Long.
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