CSSC doubles profit

China State Shipbuilding Co. (CSSC) said its first-quarter profit more than doubled after rising demand led to higher prices for vessels. The Shanghai-based company said that net income climbed to 984 million yuan ($140 million) from 417 million yuan a year earlier, while sales gained 16% to 3.98 billion yuan.

Record imports of raw materials to China and exports of consumer goods are spurring vessel orders for the nation’s shipbuilders as they expand to surpass South Korea as the world’s biggest manufacturer of ships. Sales in 2008 may rise to 24.4 billion yuan from last year?s 17.9 billion yuan.

CSSC and its domestic competitors booked orders at record prices last year while order backlogs more than tripled. Its parent, state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corp. aims to become the world’s biggest builder of vessels by 2015 and currently claims it has contracts for 50 million deadweight tons of ships.