Private Shipbuilding News

The United States' private shipyards support $42.4 billion in gross domestic product (GDP), a new report finds.The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) report, The Economic Importance of the U.S. Private Shipbuilding and Repairing Industry, measures the economic importance of the shipbuilding and repair industry at the national and state levels for calendar year 2019.In 2019, the nation’s 154 private shipyards directly provided more than 107,000 jobs and contributed $9.9 billion in labor income to the national economy, according to the report.

The shipbuilding and ship repairing industry has always been a core strength of our nation. It has enabled the United States to protect and project its prosperity, power and influence internationally. A book in my office signed by shipbuilder William Webb illustrates the point. Mr. Webb inherited his father’s shipyard in 1840 and built over 130 of the fastest clipper sailing vessels; he later built the largest and most celebrated steamships of his era. Those were glory years for the U.S. maritime industry, an era when the shipping industry was synonymous with American sovereignty.

In comments before the international Tradewinds Ship Owners Forum in New York City, Maritime Administrator Paul “Chip” Jaenichen highlighted the more than 42,700 jobs, $3.6 billion in labor income and $4.78 billion in GDP associated with employment for shipbuilding and repair in the northeast region. “American shipyards provide a dependable, highly trained workforce that produce, repair and maintain some of the world’s most modern and innovative vessels. Their efforts ensure our…

Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA) member General Dynamics NASSCO hosted U.S. Maritime Administrator Paul “Chip” Jaenichen for a tour of the San Diego shipyard, where SEACOR Constitution – a 610-foot tank ship launched this weekend. While on the tour, Administrator Jaenichen shared data from a report by the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) that shows the U.S. shipbuilding and repair industry in California supports nearly 35,000 jobs, and contributes $2.3 billion in labor income and $3.6 billion in U.S. GDP.

Chinese shipbuilder Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings Ltd said it plans to cut 2,000 additional jobs, just under 10 percent of its current workforce, stepping up efforts to cut costs as new vessel orders slide amid a volatile global economy. The Singapore-listed firm, which says it is one of the largest private shipbuilding companies in China, has already cut about 4,000 jobs this year, a spokesperson said late on Thursday, bringing its current workforce to 22,000. Earlier this month, it said revenue was nearly halved in the second quarter as it soaked up a broad industry downturn. The company, which has four shipyards in China's Jiangsu province…

India's largest private shipbuilding company ABG Shipyard is in talks with Privinvest Holding SAL to sell stake. A report says that Privinvest is expected to acquire up to 49% stake in ABG. A report in the ET NOW says both the companies entered into an exclusivity period for the transaction on May 29. Privinvest may get 3 board seats and new management to ABG Shipyard post the deal, says report. Privinvest Holding which has shipbuilding operations across the world is interested in picking majority stake in ABG Shipyard not only to have a presence in India but to also gain from its defence licence to build warships. This will be a much needed lifeline as ABG has been struggling to stay afloat a year after its Rs 11…

Mainboard-listed JES International Holdings Limited, a private shipbuilding group based in the PRC, announced that the group has commenced the steel cutting for its first two Platform Support Vessels (PSV) at its shipyard located in Jingjiang City, China. According to the builder, the UT 755 LN Platform Support Vessel is of a sophisticated and well known design, utilizing a comprehensive package from Rolls Royce which includes design and engineering services, as well as all main equipment. The vessels have a capacity of approximately 3,100 deadweight metric tons and a length of 77 meters, built under DNV classification. JES secured a total of four PSVs in the fourth quarter of 2012 from a customer based in Norway - Vega Offshore Management AS.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology  reports that orders in first half 2012 are down by 50.3% year-on-year. The volume of handling orders was a mere 125.87 million DWT by the end of June, down 30.7 percent year-on-year, which can easily lead to the assumption that some shipbuilders will not be able to keep operating in the following months. "We have not received any new orders. If the situation continues, we will have only one ship to build in the second half of this year," says Pan Haiwei, general manager of Wu Zhou Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd in central Zhejiang. Shipbuilders in neighboring Jiangsu province are also barely staying afloat.

Ningbo, April 29, 2011 —— On the morning of 29 April, Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group, China’s leading private shipbuilding enterprise held the ship naming ceremony at its Zhejiang Shipyard for GPA696, the global first fabricated model of Offshore Support Vessel(OSV) built for France’s Bourbon Company. Afterwards, a sea trial event was also held for another global first fabricated OSV, the SX130. Attending this event were Ningbo Mayor Liu Qi, Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group Chairman and CEO Simon Liang…

It might be hard to judge now if the global shipbuilding industry is recovering, but an encouraging story is certainly taking place in China in 2010. According to Clarkson Research Services, China overtakes Korea as the world's top shipbuilder in the first half of 2010 and kept ahead in terms of three major industry indicators, including new orders, order backlogs and delivery. As China’s leading private shipbuilding company, Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group is a significant driving engine of the industry development and made a rapid growth in the past year.

Wärtsilä's two-stroke engines have been chosen for eight Chinese bulk carriers. The order was placed by Beijing-based Minsheng Financial Leasing Co. Ltd. Wärtsilä's Chinese licensee, Hefei Rong'An Power Machinery Co Ltd (Rong'An), a member of the Jiangsu Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group Co Ltd (RSHI), will build the engines. The Wärtsilä RT-flex58TB two-stroke engines will be installed in a series of eight 76,000 dwt Panamax bulk carriers. The first vessel is scheduled to be launched in March 2011.

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Gary Roughead visited New London Naval Submarine Base and General Dynamics' Electric Boat facility in Groton, Conn. on Feb. 21. During the visit, Roughead flooded the graving dock at the shipyard facility allowing Pre-commissioning Unit New Hampshire (SSN 778), the fifth Virginia-class submarine, to be "launched" when it touched water for the first time. Trips such as these allow CNO to see first-hand the design and manufacture of new ships and submarines. This was the latest in a series of visits to public and private shipbuilding facilities and will serve to inform the CNO's decision making as he builds the fleet of the future. "To me the submarine is the ultimate stealth weapon that we have and the capabilities that you bring are absolutely critical.

India’s newest private shipbuilding firm,Pipavav Shipyard Ltd, is the latest in a growing list of firms looking to enter the business of making diesel ship engines in an attempt to meet growing demand for these in India and in other parts of the world, and is talking to two multinational firms for a partnership. Last week, Pipavav Shipyard started work on the first four of 26 Panamax bulk carriers that have been ordered by Norwegian, French and Greek fleetowners for a total of $1.1 billion (Rs4,360 crore). The contract makes Pipavav the world’s second biggest Panamax size shipbuilder by order size after Japan’s dry bulk cargo shipbuilding specialist Oshima Shipbuilding Co. Ltd.

India’s largest private shipbuilding company ABG Shipyard Limited has received orders worth over $254.1m to build bulk and anchor vessels for shipping companies based in Egypt and Cyprus. The company has received an order worth around from Cyprus La-mnalco Ltd. for delivery of production support vessel. Another Cyprus-based Precious Shipping Public Company has placed a Rs 726 crore order to build five deadweight tonne bulk carriers. ABG also secured an order worth Rs 181 crores for two anchor handling vessels from Egypt based Maridive and Oil Services SAE. (Source: The Asian Age)

Building ships long has ranked as one of the more dangerous industrial jobs, according to a report in the Daily Press. There's just something about cutting and bending steel, welding thousands of parts, hooking up electrical systems, crawling through tight spaces and working on small platforms hundreds of feet in the air that carries risk. The job is still hazardous, but it's getting safer. Over the last 14 years, the shipbuilding and ship repair industry has seen its rate of recordable injuries and illnesses — cases that require medical care beyond first aid — fall sharply. In 1992, there were 37.8 on-the-job injuries and illnesses per 100 shipbuilding workers, Labor Department figures show. By 2005, that figure had dropped to 10.9 cases per 100 workers, a reduction of 71 percent.

Andrew Edward Gibson died on July 8, 2001, at the age of 79 in Short Hills, New Jersey. His final decade, after a life of notably active achievements, had been primarily devoted to scholarship, at the Naval War College where he taught, and in work with Kings Point Professor Arthur Donovan, in the preparation of a history of United States maritime policy, published in 1999 as The Abandoned Ocean, and of a to-be-published history of containerization. Gibson was born on February 19, 1922 in New York City, and entered the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1940. He graduated two years later to be among the first Americans to sail in the North Atlantic convoys. By January 1945 he was in command of his own Liberty ship at age 22.