Japanese shipbuilders boosting capacity

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co (IHI) and other major Japanese shipbuilders are hiking production capacities for the first time in about 30 years, the Nikkei reported, without citing sources. The Japanese shipbuilding industry had downsized twice since the second half of the 1970s under the guidance of the old Ministry of Transport.

IHI plans to resume building bulk carriers for handling iron ore and other materials within the current year at its facility in Aichi Prefecture, where production was suspended in 1996. This move is expected to cost about 3 bln yen and raise output by about 10% from the current gross tonnage of some 1.1 million.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd has earmarked 40 bln yen to install cranes at shipyards in Nagasaki and Hyogo prefectures by 2010 in order to boost production capacity by more than 10% from 2006 levels when it built ships totalling 1.56 million gross.

Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corp, a subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd, plans to spend some 10 bln yen over the next two years at its Kagawa Prefecture shipyard to increase LNG carrier production, it said.