Vinashin to invest in Ca Mau shipyard

Vinashin will invest VND300 billion ($18.9 million) in the construction of a shipyard in the southernmost province of Ca Mau. The shipbuilder has selected a 54 hectare site in the province?s Nam Can District for the new facility, which is to be used to build ships displacing 5,000-10,000 tonnes. Up to 4,000 employees will work at the new shipyard once it is operational in 2008, and the state-owned company is already working with provincial authorities to train local workers.

Vinashin said its latest project was part of its plan to increase local content in shipbuilding to 65% by 2010, which would require investment of about VND10 trillion ($633 million). The company is to focus on producing rolled steel for ship hulls, 300 to 30,000 horsepower diesel engines, steering systems and onboard cranes, it said.

These projects would increase the local content from the current 25%.

Last year the shipbuilder invested VND1.7 trillion ($107 million) in projects in the northern coastal province of Nam Dinh as part of its localisation plan, which will make the province the country?s third-largest shipbuilding centre after Hai Phong and Quang Ninh by 2010. Vinashin said its largest individual project would be the Xuan Chau Shipbuilding complex, with investment expected to exceed VND800 billion.

The company last year earned VND7.8 trillion ($491 million) from building cargo vessels for domestic and foreign companies, a 41% increase from 2004. Most of the contracts were signed with international shipbuilding firms using technology from the UK, Denmark and Poland. Vinashin is to begin construction in July on the largest oil tanker ever built in the country, a 100,000 DWT vessel ordered by the Viet Nam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam). Vinashin and its 20 subsidiaries have made Viet Nam the world?s 11th-largest shipbuilder.