Will the floating market 'sink' in the future?: The concerns of traders

Missing the Blind Wharf

Heaven created trees with strong leaves. No matter how the wind blows, no matter who it is, the folk song talks about the generous and courageous temperament of the merchants in the Mekong Delta in the past. But now, Ms. Ha (46 years old), a long-time merchant, laments: "Looking at the embankment project, it seems like it wants to disband business. All the merchants have left. The market wants to sink, not float anymore."

Watermelon boats pull into the empty space of the embankment to unload goods at the old Mu U wharf area.

Mr. Nguyen Van Cong (51 years old), Ms. Ha's husband, said: "About forty years ago, the market had four piers. Cai Rang Bridge pier, then the Mu U pier because there were Mu U trees there for decades, so people called them that. Boats coming to the piers were very convenient to get on and off. When the embankment was built, the other piers were also cleared, such as Nam Thong pier, and Mrs. Tuyet's cabbage wharf".

The family has no land to farm, all 7 siblings of Cong and Ha do wholesale business in floating markets in the delta. "In the past, I picked red spinach, taro leaves, banana leaves from Phong Dien to sell at the market, then after a while I saw that business here was good, the market was crowded so I moved there. Living on this raft has been a time when we had to show temporary residence, pay a boat parking tax of 1,000 - 3,000 VND. Now they don't collect it anymore". Then Ha rummaged through the old 500 VND and 200 VND bills, saying: "Here, we've been selling since the time when the ferry went in and out for only 200 VND/trip, then increased to 500 VND/trip. Back then, it was a small amount of money but we could make a living. Now that silver has lost its value, no matter how much we earn, the cost increases. I keep some old money as a souvenir".

Mr. Cong and Ms. Ha's family live on a numbered raft with temporary residence. Every day, Ms. Ha goes to the floating market to buy wholesale fruits and then sells them to warehouses on the shore. "In the past, rowing fruit boats from the garden to the market at sunset was very beautiful. Early in the morning, there were some boats with eggplants, they stacked them in blocks in the boat, without any packaging, just using a tearing rod, so sometimes without looking at the tree, you could tell that the boat was selling eggplants. Sweet potatoes were from Long An, cassava from An Giang, Ba Tri (Ben Tre), watermelons from Can Tho were the best, Long An melons were also famous, the traders bought them in the garden and then transferred them to the boat to sell wholesale. In the past, the boats ran very smoothly. Pineapples from Kien Giang, pumpkins from Vinh Thuan, U Minh (Ca Mau) all went by river. The farmers followed the same route," Mr. Cong recalled the bustling trading days of the floating market traders.

Porter team at Cai Rang floating market wharf

Want to develop tourism, need to preserve floating markets

There are not only long-time traders in the floating market. Throughout the old wharves, there are many "father-to-son" porter teams. Like the family of Mr. Pham Hoang Thai (68 years old), who is now "retired", his son, Mr. Pham Van Dinh (42 years old), has taken over the profession. He has been working in the market's porter team since he was 18 years old. "It used to be very crowded, now there are only two teams working in shifts of 15 people in the morning and 17 people in the afternoon," Mr. Dinh said. Mr. Nguyen Hoang Phuong, 44 years old, from Cai Rang, Can Tho, used to be the deputy head of the porter team, adding: "Dinh and I have two fathers as team leaders and deputy heads, then leave them to the younger ones. The wages for working (working) are calculated by ton, which is also 200,000 - 300,000 VND/day".

In the late afternoon, boats carrying watermelons and sweet potatoes jostle each other to "fight" for parking space near the riverbank on Vo Tanh Street, An Binh Ward. Along Vo Tanh Street now are large concrete blocks, pile drilling machines pounding loudly all day long. Merchants add a few wooden poles to connect the boats to the shore to move goods up, the porter team carries each bag of fruit across the road to load it onto the truck. "In the past, trucks only needed to dock at the riverbank to load goods. Now the embankment is completely built, only this part has not been built yet, so they take advantage of the opportunity to go up and help. The porter team has to add 2-3 steps to loading goods. Before, a truck only needed 5 people, now it takes 7-8 people to deliver goods to customers on time," said Mr. Dinh.

Merchant standing on the bow of the ship watching the sunset after the rain on the afternoon of May 25.

The project to preserve and develop Cai Rang floating market was approved by Can Tho City People's Committee in 2016, including 13 main items. Mr. Dang Ngoc Nhan, Director of Cai Rang District Culture, Sports and Broadcasting Center, said that in 2022, the number of fixed boats and small boats on the floating market will be 390. Of which, there will be 240 merchant boats, 80 tourist boats and 70 street vendor boats. "The embankment is currently under construction and preparing to make a pier for small traders to get on and off," said Mr. Nhan.

However, according to Ms. Ha, since the beginning of 2023, her trading partners in the floating market have come ashore to find a lot of business, it is difficult to do business on the river because there is no wharf, tourist boats run all day, making it difficult for them to run their boats and ferries to get goods. Ms. Ha stepped onto the river where the embankment construction is in disarray, worried: "The merchants who used to live here now follow the floating market. They said to keep the market for tourism but built the embankment, there is no wharf and all the boats and ships leave, so what will tourists come to the floating market to see?".

Like many other traders, Ho Trang Ngoc Loi's family in the "sweet potato village" doesn't know what to do if the floating market becomes a tourist market in the future. "My parents are old, now I'm the one who follows them. My hometown is Kien Giang but I don't even go home for Tet because I consider the market my home. I don't know what to do to make a living... The land on the shore to open a warehouse now costs over 10 million VND but it can't hold much. Just look at this boat, 2-3 boats can hold up to 50-60 tons of goods," Loi sat watching the tourist boats speed by, his voice sad. Suddenly, he sighed: "People usually have a wife or husband before moving out. As for me, I've been on the boat since I was a child, so when I go to the floating market, I'll probably be single forever." When asked, I learned that although he's over 30 years old, he's not married because he's been on the boat with his parents since he was a child...

Cultural researcher Nham Hung (Can Tho City) shared: "Now the roads have covered all the communes and hamlets in the delta. Below there are rivers, above there are roads, which will help facilitate the trade of goods. One day, the floating market system on the river may gradually decrease and disappear. The problem is how to preserve this cultural feature? The State must have a policy to preserve the floating market culture as a solution to provide a roadmap to shift from natural to self-created floating markets. Special attention should be paid to solutions to create conditions for traders to continue to set up markets on the river, which is also a cultural feature for tourists to seek out."

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