Rolls Royce has opened a new factory in Shanghai, China, to serve the world’s largest commercial shipbuilding market. Together with an existing facility in Korea, the factory forms a new production hub for north-east Asia enabling the company to supply shipyards with marine equipment at the point of manufacture – and open up new markets in the process. The Asian shipbuilding market is currently worth £19 billion annually and accounts for around 80 percent of all global construction. In 2004 new orders and deliveries reached record levels. Marine President Saul Lanyado, who officially opened the site yesterday, said: “This is a very exciting development for us and it opens up real opportunities to expand our business in Asia.