Good times for Vietnamese shipbuilding

Nam Trieu Shipbuilding Company (NASICO), part of the Vinashin shipbuilders group, began work on a vessel that will be Viet Nam?s biggest container ship. The 700 TEU ship is 133.60 metres long, 19.40 metres wide, 9.45 metres high and will be powered by a 7,200kW main engine. The ship is part of a $153 million deal to build ten 700-TEU boxships for the German firm MPC (Münchmeyer Petersen & Co. GmbH) and will be delivered in early 2007.

Currently, NASICO is also building the biggest ships ever in Vietnam, i.e. seven 53,000 DWT bulk carriers for Graig Shipping of Britain.

The Ben Kien Shipbuilding Industry Company successfully launched the 8,700 DWT dry cargo ship ?Grace Casablanca?, the lead-ship of a four-ship contract ordered by Kanematsu group of Japan. The ships, designed by Japan?s AZ company, are 111.80 metres long, 18.60 metres wide and a 3,120 kW main engine supplied by Mitsubishi.