China Cosco shipyard expansion

Cosco Shipyard Group (CSG), China?s largest shipyard company, is expanding three of its seven shipyards at a cost of $113 million in order to boost its capacity in China.

The expansion of shipyards in Zhoushan, Nantong, and Guangzhou will reportedly be completed in one year, boosting capacity by 28%, according to a statement by CSG?s main shareholder Cosco Corp. (Singapore) Ltd.

At Zhoushan, the company is adding two new berths and doubling the size of its existing 150,000 dwt drydock to allow two Panamax vessels to be accommodated simultaneously.

In addition, a new 80,000 dwt drydock will be ready by the end of 2006 and another 300,000 dwt drydock will be ready by mid-2007. Meanwhile in Nantong, a new workshop was completed in June with another planned for the end of 2006. At Guangzhou, CSG will add two 80,000 dwt floating dry-docks and lease two additional berths for 20 years.

The expansion is being driven by rising demand and an increasing focus on higher value work such as single to double hull tanker conversions, VLCC repairs, FPSO repair and conversions and offshore rig component building.