Cosco eyes expansion outside China

Shipbuilding and ship repair firm Cosco Corp (Singapore) will consider establishing bases in Vietnam and other Asian countries since China could become less attractive as environmental regulations tighten and labour costs rise. Cosco, majority-owned by China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co, is focusing its resources on three main business lines: ship repair, new ship building and marine engineering, which includes the construction of oil rigs.

Since last year, Cosco has won a series of big orders for conversion and construction of offshore oil and gas drilling rigs and vessels, helped by the soaring oil price and booming international trade. Its order book stands at about $6 billion. The firm has said it will bolster its ship repair capacity by expanding its Zhoushan shipyard with three new berths and three dry docks totaling 1 million deadweight tonnes docking capacity, for completion by 2010.

Cosco has started to consider expansion into other Asian countries such as Vietnam, India, Philippines or Indonesia to tap cheap labour and less stringent pollution restraints.