Feature 1 | CHINA Straddle carriers
Can’t sell? Ten export and own...yards venture over the line into owners’ territory as their client base shrinks
on-going mass bankruptcies. As new orders for ships become fewer
S
and farther between in combination with a growing collection of non performing expensive contracts penned during the frenzied days of the previous cheap credit fuelled boom, a growing number of Chinese shipbuilders, both private and state owned are becoming shipowners. Teir new owning companies are usually set up in Hong Kong,
hipyards becoming shipowners is the second biggest trend in Chinese shipbuilding this year, after the
the one stop shop for legal and banking conveniently located on China’s doorstep, but otherwise essentially offshore. Major names like the privately held
Sinopacific Group and Sainty Marine started the trend of setting up Hong Kong shipowning companies and are now being joined by state owned giants including the CSSC group (holding company for Shanghai Waigaoqiao, Jiangnan, Hudong Zhonghua, Chengxi, etc) who have just set up their own office in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong.
Te name of the game for all these new
shipowners is to ‘export’ their newbuildings from China and collect the VAT rebate, while still keeping control of the assets. Tis is where many so called distressed assets have disappeared into, only to be transformed into candidates for bareboat or time charter. Te setup is a winner for the yards who can
remove the ships from their books, collect the VAT rebate and then play the market, oſten with more fresh finance from the banks they are already dealing with. NA
Customers tell China to up its game
IMC customer survey shows that China’s shipyards lag their competitors in terms of quality
year paints an interesting picture on what China’s yards need to do to up their game. IMC polled 25 large Asian shipowners and the main issues raised concern quality, price and customer service. According to the
A survey, quality
is the first factor for a shipowner to choose a shipbuilder, then comes price and payment terms. Most shipowners expect Chinese newbuilding prices to be between 10 and 15% lower than Japanese
survey conducted by Hong Kong/Singapore maritime conglomerate IMC earlier this
similar products and 5% to 10% lower than Korean’s. Owners nowadays are placing huge
attention to ship speed, fuel consumption and resale prices, the survey showed – and it made clear that in this trio of vital sale components, China lags its East Asian rivals. Statistics show 47% of shipowners
think the quality of Chinese shipyards are much lower than Japanese shipbuilders and most believe they are lower than Korean shipyards. Chinese shipyards must up their quality management systems if they are
Rongsheng diversifies
As shipbuilding undergoes a structural change Rongsheng looks to adapt to survive the upheavals in the ship construction market
C 74
hina Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group, the Hong Kong-listed giant yard located
in Jiangsu province, has rightly made a name for itself for its Suezmax tankers (which it can boast the world’s second largest orderbook) and the very large
ore carriers for Vale and Oman Shipping that have caused such a ruckus on the international dry bulk trades for the past two years. However, the product offerings of China’s
largest private
shipyard are far more diverse than these two staples.
Chen Qiang, chief executive officer of
the seven year old yard, has similar views to China’s shipbuilding predicament as those reported at the front end of this country report. “The global economy is volatile and adding uncertainties to the shipbuilding
The Naval Architect September 2012
to compete and focus more spending on research and development. While Japanese shipyards scored an
average of 9 out of 10 for fuel efficient designs, China’s yards notched just 3.5. Chinese ship designers and shipyards
need to hold more open and constant dialogue with shipowners during construction, but also aſter delivery. Outsourcing by subcontractors is a severe
irritation for owners building in China, according to the poll. In short, as a school report, the poll results might read: Room for improvement. NA
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