The Pha Rung Shipyard Company, under the Vietnam Ship Building Industry Corporation (Vinashin), on Oct. 9 signed a contract to build five ships for the Forturne Marine Company of the Republic of Korea (RoK), according to a report from the Vietnam News Agency. This contract is significant, as it is Vinashin's first contract to export ships to the RoK. The 110 x 8.2 m, 6,500-ton ships will each cost approximately $11 million. Work for building the first ship is scheduled to begin in late 2005, with the ship transferred to the RoK 18 months later. After successfully building the 6,300-toe ship, Cai Lan 2, the Pha Rung Shipyard Company has won two consecutive contracts to build eight ships to be exported to the United Kingdom and five others to the RoK.-Enditem.
