STX to add floating dock

STX Shipbuilding plans to raise capacity at its South Korean yards by 20% this year after adding a second floating dock to meet demand for new vessels. Yards in Busan and Jinhae will be able to handle 60 ships compared with 50 last year, senior vice president Kang Ssang Won said. STX will spend 142.6 billion won ($135 million) to build the new dock on the south coast.

South Korean shipyards including STX Shipbuilding and biggest rival Hyundai Heavy Industries are adding capacity to clear backlogs stretching to 2012. “We are trying to become a world leader in shipbuilding,” Kang said. “We want to be in markets where we believe there will be need for new vessels.”

STX Shipbuilding will focus on building VLCCs and LNG carriers at Jinhae, while focusing on smaller ships at its Chinese yard in Dalian. Parent STX Group plans to build floating oil platforms, drilling rigs and other offshore equipment in China.

STX Shipbuilding, along with associate companies STX Engine Co. and STX Heavy, is building a yard complex in Vietnam, the group’s second Asian shipyard complex after Dalian. The yard in Vanphong will cost the company $150 million.

STX Heavy aims to make 240 engines this year, compared with 133 in 2007, and build annually 210,000 tons of blocks used to the make the hulls of vessels. It is working on a plan to build a block plant in Masan, 388 kilometers south of Seoul.