Hitachi Zosen Corp News

Japanese engineering giant Hitachi Zosen Corp and French marine renewables technology outfit  Naval Energies will work together in the field of floating wind power.The French marine renewables specialist said in a press release that the two companies will design and build floating wind turbines with a capacity of several hundred megawatts off the Japanese coast using Naval Energies' semi-submersible floating solution, which is a concrete, steel or a hybrid combination fixed to the seabed by an anchoring system that controls its movements.The project between the two companies is based on a feasibility study to jointly design and build…

Japanese heavy machinery makers IHI Corp. and JFE Holdings Inc. said they have agreed to begin concrete talks on merging their shipbuilding subsidiaries, a move that would create 's biggest shipbuilder. The move comes as Japanese shipbuilders face intensifying competition from regional rivals and , the International Tribune reported. IHI and JFE will establish a committee to discuss the details of how operations of IHI subsidiary, IHI Marine United Inc., and its JFE counterpart, Universal Shipbuilding Corp., can be integrated, the companies said in a joint statement. They will also discuss production details, merger ratios and ways to stay competitive in shipbuilding operations, they said.

According to reports, Japanese steelmaker JFE Holdings Inc said it has reached an agreement with shipbuilder and engineering company Hitachi Zosen Corp to turn their shipbuilding joint venture into a JFE subsidiary. JFE will acquire an additional 34.9 percent stake in Universal Shipbuilding Corp, its 50-50 joint venture with Hitachi Zosen, for 34.9 billion yen. With the deal, JFE's stake in Universal Shipbuilding will increase to 85 percent while Zosen will hold the remaining 15 percent. JFE said the move is aimed at further increasing Universal Shipbuilding's business efficiency and profitability. Source: Thomson Financial News

NKK Corp., a major Japanese steelmaker and shipbuilder, and Hitachi Zosen Corp., another major Japanese shipbuilder, will study the feasibility of cooperating in shipbuilding to strengthen competitiveness in a tough global market. The two companies will consider cooperating in sales, design, procurement and manufacturing, they said. In March, NKK said it was considering an alliance with Hitachi Zosen to try to revive its flagging shipbuilding operations.

Leading Japanese steel maker NKK Corp. and major heavy machinery and engineering firm Hitachi Zosen Corp. will consolidate their shipbuilding operations. The move, which would result in combined sales of $1.3 billion - the second largest in Japan's shipbuilding business - is likely to accelerate reorganization in the depressed industry.

Bergesen exercised an option to buy two more 296,000 dwt oil tankers from Japan's Hitachi Zosen Corp for a combined price of $140 million. "The vessels will be delivered in February and June 2002, and will be vessels number seven and eight delivered by Hitachi to Bergesen," Bergesen said in a statement. "The contract for the first six vessels was entered into earlier this year, and the first two vessels have already been delivered," it said. "The Hitachi series represents a strong renewal of Bergesen's tanker fleet. The company has in 1999 and so far this year sold altogether seven old tankers, of which five for scrapping. It has been decided to convert another two old tankers to floating production vessels," it said.

Japan's second-largest steelmaker, NKK Corp agreed with two other Japanese firms to consider future integration of their steel plant operations in a bid to combat severe competition. The alliance with heavy electric machinery maker Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd. and heavy machinery maker Hitachi Zosen Corp. was prompted partly by the emergence of giant overseas rivals, the three companies said. As the first step of the alliance, the companies will set up a joint venture in March, capitalized at $1.74 million, for sales of a variety of heavy machines used in the steel-making process to the domestic and overseas markets. The new company, which plans to launch operations in April, will be owned 34 percent by NKK, 33 percent by Sumitomo Heavy and 33 percent by Hitachi Zosen.

Japanese shipbuilder Hitachi Zosen Corp and steelmaker NKK Corp. agreed to merge their shipbuilding operations into a single company on October 1, 2002. The move, which will result in Japan's second-biggest shipmaker after Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., is aimed at coping with increasingly harsh global competition by reducing production costs and speeding up product development. It comes as a growing number of Japanese companies are forming alliances in the shipbuilding industry to compete with South Korean rivals, which are benefiting from low manufacturing costs and the weakened won. The news boosted shares of both companies. NKK surged 9.52 percent to close at 92 yen, its highest price for the business year to March, while Hitachi Zosen jumped 4.49 percent to 93 yen.

According to a report from the Kyodo News Service, eight shipbuilders were warned by the government's competition policy watchdog over alleged bid rigging on defense contracts. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said it issued the warning over what it deems were acts to unfairly restrict competition for contracts from the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) concerning the force's fleet between fiscal 1996 and fiscal 1999. The eight are Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd., Hakodate Dock Co., Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., NKK Corp., Sasebo Heavy Industries Co. and Hitachi Zosen Corp.

More than 10 major water-treatment plant makers, including Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., were searched Tuesday by the Fair Trade Commission on suspicion of repeatedly rigging bids for contracts from local governments, as reported by the Japan Times. Also raided were Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd., JFE Engineering Corp., Kubota Corp., Ebara Corp., Hitachi Zosen Corp., Takuma Co. and Ataka Construction and Engineering Co. Most of the companies confirmed they were being searched by the antimonopoly watchdog but declined comment on the reason. The firms are suspected of conspiring to select bid winners and fix bid prices for contracts for building water-treatment plants…

JFE Holdings Inc. is considering taking over Hitachi Zosen Corp.'s shipbuilding operations, which are now conducted by Universal Shipbuilding Corp., a joint venture between the two firms, sources said Saturday. The deal would mark Osaka-based Hitachi Zosen's effective departure from shipbuilding. It will instead concentrate on its mainline environment equipment and plants business to try to bolster profitability, the sources said. The acquisition is expected to accelerate reconfiguration of the domestic shipbuilding industry. Demand for shipbuilding has increased amid the strong global economy. However, domestic shipbuilders face cutthroat competition with South Korean and Chinese rivals as well as deteriorating profitability due to rising materials costs.

Hitachi Zosen Corp. has received an order for a Hitachi-MAN B&W ME engine. The order, for a 6S50ME-C,was placed by shipowner Nissho Shipping Co. Ltd., and is the first ME engine ordered in Japan. The shipbuilder is Naikai Zosen and the ME engine will be delivered in February 2004. The ME engine will be manufactured by Hitachi Zosen Diesel and Engineering Co., Ltd. Koike), based on a license agreement with MAN B&W Diesel A/S in Denmark. MAN B&W began the development of electronically controlled engines in 1987, and in 1991 it started an electronic control project for developing “Intelligent Engines”. Meanwhile, Hitachi Zosen commenced basic research on hydraulic pressure-driven fuel oil pressure boosting devices and exhaust gas valve control, without the use of a camshaft, around 1985.

Norwegian shipping group Bergesen d.y. ordered four 296,000 dwt tankers from Japan's Hitachi Zosen Corp., for $263.7 million. Company officials said the vessels were all under construction, and one will be delivered in the first quarter of 2000, two in the second quarter and the fourth in the first quarter of 2001. Bergesen has an option to order two other ships for delivery in the first half of 2001.

Hitachi Zosen Corp. will reportedly obtain an extraordinary profit of $140 million in the six months ending in September due to a sale of idle land. It will sell 30,316 sq. meters of land in Osaka for $150 million to an affiliated Osaka-based real estate firm on Sept. 30. The company also announced that it will incur extraordinary losses of $130 million in the first half due to early retirement pay. The company has not revised its earnings forecast for the year ending March 2000.

Major Japanese shipbuilder Hitachi Zosen Corp. will obtain an extraordinary profit of $140 million in the ending in September due to a sale of idle land. It will sell 30,316 sq. meters of land in Osaka for $150 billion to an affiliated Osaka-based real estate firm on Sept. 30. The company also announced extraordinary losses of $130 million in the first half due to early retirement pay. It has not revised its earnings forecast for the year ending in March 2000.

Hitachi Zosen Corp., a major Japanese shipbuilder, won 29 billion yen worth of orders from Bergesen D.Y. Group ASA of Norway for four 300,000-ton oil tankers. The tankers will be delivered between March 31, 2000 and January 31, 2001, a spokesman for Hitachi Zosen said. Hitachi Zosen posted a parent current loss of 17.49 billion yen for the year ended March 1999, its first current loss in 10 years, against current profit of 7.02 billion a year earlier, mainly due to losses from unprofitable overseas business.

A United Arab Emirates company has reportedly signed a contract with Japan's Hitachi Zosen Corp. to buy a third bulk carrier at a cost of about $22 million. The Dubai-based al-Ghurair group signed deals to purchase two ships from Hitachi last year. The first ship is expected by the end of this year, and the other two will be delivered early in 2002.

Bergesen d.y. Group ASA exercised an option to buy two more VLCCs from Japan's Hitachi Zosen Corp. The total option price for the 296,000 dwt vessels is about $131.7 million. The two vessels will be delivered in March and May, 2001. Bergesen also announced that it has bought oil/ore carrier Grand Phoenix for $23 million. The 291,000-dwt carrier, built in Japan in 1986, will be delivered by the end of March.