State-backed Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) will enlarge its capacity to build ships capable of carrying 320,000 tons in a couple of years, local media reported.
Pham Thanh Binh, general director of Vinashin, said the largest shipbuilder in Vietnam expects the first such a large ship will be launched in 2010.
“We are negotiating a contract with a ship owner and an agreement can be signed in a few months’ time,” he said.
If the plan is realized, this will be a real turning point for the country’s shipbuilding industry, which has been so far only able to build vessels of 100,000 deadweight ton (DWT).
Currently, Vinashin is working on many orders to build large ships for international shipping companies, including a series of 53,000-DWT for Graig Investments of the United Kingdom, a series of 104,000-ton oil tanker and many smaller ships.
The first 53,000-DWT ship built by Vinashin will be completed and launched by its Nam Trieu Shipbuilding Industry Corp. this week.
Binh said “We are expanding our current shipbuilding facilities by three times to meet the increasing demand, and are also seeking to increase the local content in Vietnam-built ships to 70 per cent from the current 30 per cent.
Vinashin is developing a steel manufacturing factory in Quang Ninh Province to produce special steel products for shipbuilding, and building three factories manufacturing engines for large vessels and oil tankers.
Last year, Vinashin obtained total sales of more than US$1 billion, up 50 per cent on 2005. (Saigon Times Daily)
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