New shipyard to be built in Vladivostok

Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation and Chinese shipbuilder Yantai Raffles have signed a joint venture agreement to build a large shipyard in Vladivostok, on Russia’s Pacific coast, at a cost of $200m.

Yantai Raffles, founded by Singaporean Brian Cheng, was taken over recently by CIMC, the world?s largest container manufacturer. Yantai Raffles is an offshore specialist, based at the northern tip of Shandong province and its yard contains the world?s largest gantry crane, the 20,000 tonne Taisun.

Russian shipbuilders are anxious to climb the technology ladder and a number of agreements have been signed between local and leading Korean yards. This latest signing is the first between China and Russia.