COSCO Singapore Doubles Chinese Yard Investment
Singapore-listed Cosco Corporation subsidiary Cosco Shipyard Group increases its investment in the registered capital of 60%-owned Cosco Qidong Offshore, China. Cosco has increased its investment by RMB300-million to RMB600-million. The other investors in the yard have also doubled their investment at the fast growing offshore complex so the shareholding structure remains the same, reports SinoShip News. Eight days ago Cosco Qidong announced it had won a contract for a harsh environment semi-sub rig from Axis Offshore, a joint venture between Danish shipowner, J. Lauritzen and Norwegian private equity fund, HitecVision, is paying $200m for the rig for delivery in Q1 of 2015. Source: SinoShip News
China Shipbuilder Wins Capesize Bulker Contracts
Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, a CSSC-affiliated shipyard, contracted to build two180,000 dwt bulk ships. The contract with undisclosed European owners has the option for a further four vessels to be delivered if required. The vessels will adopt Waigaoqiao’s newly developed sixth generation design for 180,000dwt capesizes which will reduce oil consumption by 20% and improve transport capacity by 30% compared to its previous design. Waigaoqiao is a leading major capesize builder and it has been the largest bulker export shipyard in China for a number of years.
CNOOC Mulls LNG Vessel Orders
CNOOC has it in mind to order 14 medium & small-sized LNG ships from Chinese shipyards. The Group is China’s largest producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas and one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the world. It mainly engages in exploration, development, production and sales of oil and natural gas. The Group’s core operation areas are Bohai, Western South China Sea, Eastern South China Sea and East China Sea in offshore China. In overseas, the Group has oil and gas assets in Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Oceania. CNOOC plans to order four 30,000 cu m LNG vessels and ten 10…
China Rongsheng Chairman Quits
Chairman of China's largest private shipbuilder, Zhang Zhirong, steps down from China Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group. Determined to put scandal behind it, China’s largest private shipbuilder, China Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group, has said its chairman has stepped down. to be replaced by the yard’s CEO, Chen Qiang, reports SinoShip News. Rongsheng was hit by an insider dealing scandal involving a firm owned by Zhang ahead of the $15.1bn bid for Canadian oil firm Nexen Inc by China offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC. Rongsheng’s profits have slumped this year amid a barren time for Chinese yards and shares of the Hong Kong-listed entity have dropped 30%. Source: SinoShip News
Hong Kong Port Losing Ground to Shenzen
In China's container terminal league table Shenzhen is overhauling HK, Dalian is the fastest growing & Yingkou vaults into top 25. Shanghai is still ahead of Singapore for top spot in the world – by some half a million boxes in the first three quarters – 24.2m teu versus 23.7m. Hong Kong, until 2005 the busiest boxport in the world, is likely to relinquish third spot to Shenzhen this year based on numbers from Alphaliner as reported by SinoShip news. Hong Kong volumes dropped 3.9% in the first nine months…
China Shipyard Wins Multiple Container Ship Orders
Ship operators Bernhard Schulte & US banking institution JP Morgan have come together to order a series of medium-size boxships in China. Zhejiang Yangfan Group will construct up to eight 2,300 teu boxships for the pair in a four plus four option deal with deliveries scheduled in 2014 and 2015. Pricing is thought to be in the region of US$26.5-million per ship. Zhejiang Yangfan Group is the largest shipbuilding group in Zhejiang Province and the scope of its bussiness operation includes shipbuilding and marine outfitting. Source: SinoShip News
Vale Very Large Ore Carriers Sold, Chartered Back
Brazil's mining giant Vale sells 10 VLOCs for US$600-million to Turkey’s Polaris Shipping. The Brazilian company said that the transaction would improve cash flow while still maintaining its maritime ore shipping capacity. The ships will be chartered back to Vale. “In addition to unlocking capital, the transaction preserves Vale's capacity of maritime transportation of iron ore, since the vessels will be available but without the ownership and operational risks,” Vale said in a statement.
China Shipbuilder Ponders Overseas Yard Acquisition
China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC) says it has had advanced talks with a European shipbuilder so far. Despite the travails of the lack of orders at home one of China’s shipbuilding majors is looking at taking advantage of the downturn by acquiring some overseas yards to boost its technology expertise, reports Sinoship News. China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC), the state-run entity that controls many northern Chinese yards, said recently that it had held advanced talks with one European shipbuilder so far. "The talks did not bear any fruit but they did help us gain experience in negotiating with European companies," a senior executive, Sun Bo said recently. "We will continue pursuing the idea (of mergers and acquisitions of European shipbuilding companies)," he added.
China Shipbuilding Industry on Downward Slide
China’s first half 2012 shipyard figures make grim reading & the national shipbuilding association warns little chance of help from Beijing. In the first half, newly received order volume in China were 10.74m tons, sharply down 50.3% year-on-year. Till the end of June 2012, orders on hand stood at 125.87m tons, a decrease of 30.7% year-on year. The equipment division of the Ministry of Industry and Information estimated many yards may will run out of work during the second half of 2012. “The shipbuilding industry is getting worse. Beijing has not released any new specific supporting measures for the industry yet,” an official from the national shipbuilding association told 'SinoShip News'.
China Shipbuilder Goes Bankrupt
The first shipbuilder in the North-East China province of Liaoning, Dalian Oriental Precision & Engineering declares bankruptcy, According to SinoShip News, the shipbuilding company Dalian Oriental Precision & Engineering was invested in by Japanese company Oriental Precision and Dalian Shipbuilding Industry. The shipbuilders began operations in 2007, just before the global financial crisis ocurred. A local bank has taken over the company, and is processing an asset inventory.
COSCO Warn of Dramatic Profit Dip
COSCO Shipping warns of 99.5% interim profit drop Shanghai-listed COSCO Shipping, the vessel service provision arm of China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co, says that profit attributable to shareholders for the first half will drop 99.5% from a year earlier to about RMB700,000 ($109,000). SinoShip News adds that other listed firms are feeling the pinch too. Shanghai-listed China Shipping Haisheng, a bulk carrier subsidiary of China Shipping Group, also gave investors an early warning of a first-half loss this week, without disclosing specific figures.
