STX gets green light

The Vietnamese government has given the green light for STX Shipbuilding to build a $500 million shipyard covering 300 hectares in the central region. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had approved ?in principle? setting up the facility in Van Phong Economic Zone in Khanh Hoa province, but there were certain formalities left before official approval, Vo Lam Phi, head of the province people?s committee said on Friday.

Dung has instructed state agencies concerned to help the company with the formalities.

The project schedule has not been announced but the EZ authority said after the first phase the shipyard could have an annual capacity of 900,000 DWT and the second phase 2.5 million DWT.

The Vietnamese government has given the zone flexibility to offer incentives to investors which, in addition to STX, includes South Korea?s POSCO group which is seeking to build a $1.5 billion steel complex with a capacity of 4-8 million tonnes of steel a year. The EZ is easily accessible by rail, road, and sea, has a deep-water port and is close to international shipping lanes.