Nhan Dan News

At least 15 sailors were missing on Thursday after a Panama-flagged cargo ship capsized in rough seas off Vietnam, Vietnamese state media said.The incident happened off the central province of Binh Thuan when the Xin Hong with 11 Chinese and four Vietnamese sailors onboard was transporting 7,800 tonnes of clay from Malaysia to Hong Kong, Nhan Dan newspaper reported.Sailors had contacted Vietnam for help earlier on Thursday when the ship began to list in rough seas, the report said.Vietnam has sent a rescue team, including a coast guard vessel, to search for the missing sailors, the report said, adding that the team had found an inflatable life raft near the sinking ship with no one inside.(Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by Giles Elgood)

The Pha Rung Shipbuilding Industrial Company, a member of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industrial Economic Group (VINASHIN), on January 27 launched the construction of three shipbuilding and repair factories which are considered to be the biggest in Vietnam so far. These include the Yen Hung Shipbuilding Factory, the Sea Ship Repairing Factory in Yen Hung Supporting Industry Complex and the Pha Rung VINASHIN-MAN Engine Manufacturing Factory. Total cost for construction of the three factories is put at VND 4.5 trillion. According to Mr Nguyen Van Hoc, General Director of the Pha Rung Shipbuilding Industrial Company, with the construction of the Pha Rung VINASHIN-MAN Engine Manufacturing Factory, Vietnam will become the fourth country in the world to manufacture sea ship engines.

The Vinashin Victory oil tanker owned by the Bien Dong Transport Company, a member of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group, became the first Vietnamese ship to anchor at a U.S. port. The tanker carried over 40,000 tons of oil from Japan, crossing the Pacific ocean in 13 days and anchoring at San Francisco port in California on August 23. The Vinashin Victory is the biggest Vietnamese oil tanker with a capacity of 47,000 tons. The tanker has a speed of 15 miles per hour and is on the ABS registry of shipping. The $50m tanker was recently purchased by Vinashin and has been put into use since April 2007. Source: Nhan Dan

The Saigon Shipbuilding and Maritime Industry Company (Saigon Shipmarin) signed a contract with Japan's Kanematsu Corp. to build two 6,500-tonne cargo vessels. These are the first cargo vessels that Saigon Shipmarin, a member of the Viet Nam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin), has built for export. The first vessel is expected to be handed over in March 2007 and the second, in July. The company has invested over VND 300 billion (over US $18 million) to expand its production scale, train technical workers, and raise its capacity to build and repair 10,000-12,500 tonne ships. It is also producing two 6,800-tonne vessels under a contract with the Satraser Trade and Maritime Service Co.(Source: Nhan Dan)

The Saigon Shipbuilding and Maritime Industry Company (Saigon Shipmarin) signed a contract with Japan's Kanematsu Corp. to build two 6,500-ton cargo vessels. The vessels will be the first cargo vessels that Saigon Shipmarin, a member of the Viet Nam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin), has built for export. The first vessel is expected to be handed over in March 2007 and the second, in July. The company has invested over $18m to expand its production scale, train technical workers, and raise its capacity to build and repair 10,000-12,500 ton ships. Source: Nhandan

The Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin) signed shipbuilding contracts with foreign partners, including those from Japan, Germany and Israel, worth nearly US $4.5b in the first half of the year. Cargo ships under these contracts were mostly of 5,300 to over 56,000 tons. The corporation has also built 29 new ships with capacity of 1,000 to 3,000 tonnes in this same six month period. Vinashin is working with Japanese and German firms to build cargo ships of 8,700 to 56,300 tonnes and container ships of 900 to 1,100 TEU and with PetroVietnam to build oil tankers. The corporation is focusing on upgrading its 10 shipbuilding subsidiaries in order to make Vietnam become one of the world's four largest shipbuilding countries by 2015. Source: Nhan Dan

Hot weather was the main reason that caused the hang-up of a 10,500 ton ship during its attempted launch at the Bach Dang Shipbuilding Industry Company in the northern port city of Haiphong on June 17. During the launch, the prow of the Sun Island, or Noma 2, touched the water but the remaining part of the vessel did not make it despite being tugged by another ship. According to official explanation from a shipyard’s engineer, the paraffin wax for lubrication on the slip-away had been melted due to the high outdoor temperature of over 42ºC, leading to increasing friction during the launch and hampering the ship from entering the water. Fortunately, the ship has not been damaged by the incident.

On February 25, the Ben Kien Shipbuilding Industry Company successfully launched the Grace Casablanca cargo ship of 8,700 ton. This is the first of four 8,700 ton ships ordered by Kanematsu group of Japan. The ships, designed by Japan’s AZ company, are 111.8 metres long, 18.6 metres wide, 9.65 metres high. The main engine of 3,120 kW is supplied by Mitsubishi. The company will continue its efforts to finish construction of the ship and start building the remaining three ships as ordered. (Source: Nhan Dan)

The Saigon Shipbuilding Industry Company (SSIC) handed over Wednesday a 6,500 tonne freighter to the Saigon Shipping Company. The Saigon Queen, which cost $7.2 million, is 103-m long and 17-m wide, and has a top speed of 23 km per hour, is the largest vessel built by the shipyard. On its maiden run, the ship will carry agricultural products to China. The SSIC, a subsidiary of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, is building two more freighters of the same size for state-run shipping corporation Vinalines and the Can Tho Marine Transport Company. It is scheduled to hand over the vessels at the end of this year. The company has won contracts to build ships for Canadian and Danish companies. (Source: http://www.nhandan.com.vn/¬)

Nhan Dan reports that hot weather was the main reason that caused delays of a 10,500 ton ship during its attempted launch at the Bach Dang Shipbuilding Industry Company in the northern port city of Haiphong, Vietnam on June 17. During the launch, the ship touched the water but the vessel did not make it despite being tugged by another ship. According to a shipyard’s engineer, the paraffin wax for lubrication on the slip-away had been melted due to the high outdoor temperature, leading to increasing friction during the launch and hampering the ship from entering the water. The ship’s owner on June 18 visited the site and totally agreed with the company on the reason of the incident as well as the measures for the next launch of the ship. source: Nhan Dan