Mitsubishi Heavy to Return to Shipbuilding

Japanese shipbuilding and engineering company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. will return to building large passenger ships next year in order to meet rising demand, according to a Thomson Financial report. The company suspended its passenger shipbuilding operations after a fire on a vessel that was under construction in October 2002, the business daily said. Mitsubishi Heavy will begin taking orders next year for large cruise ships that have more than 1,000 rooms and cost about 60-100 billion yen each, the report said. Because its mainstay Nagasaki shipyard will not have any extra production capacity until 2011, actual construction of the cruise ships is not likely to begin until 2012 or later, it said. [Source: Thomson Financial]