Samsung expanding China base

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) plans to expand its ship-block construction base in Rongsheng City, Shandong Province, China, by finalizing the “Phase 3” ship-block factory construction. SHI has already finished “Phase 1 and 2” in 2007 and is currently producing 100,000 to 150,000 tonnes of ship-blocks annually and, when “Phase 3” construction work is completed by 2011, the output will increase to up to 300,000 tonnes.

The South Korean shipbuilder also operates a block factory with annual production of 200,000 tonnes in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, China.

An official at SHI said, “When the China block factory expansion work is finished in 2011, the company will be able to construct up to 70 ships per year. All of the ship-blocks manufactured at the China factory will be assembled at the Geoje Shipyard in South Korea.”

In addition, SHI is contemplating “Phase 4” China block factory project in Rongsheng but no firm decision has been made yet. SHI was first among South Korean shipbuilders to construct a ship-block building base in China when it had established Samsung Heavy Industries Ningbo Co., Ltd. in 1997. Since then, it has been expanding its block factories in China.