The CEO of Japan Marine United (JMU), the second largest yard in the nation, has announced a restructuring, as well as taking a swipe at Korean rivals.
JMU, which is the result of a merger in 2013 between IHI Marine and Universal Shipbuilding, will integrate all its design departments from its seven yards across the country back to Tokyo headquarters among other cost saving initiatives.
Shinjiro Mishima, while announcing the restructuring earlier this week, took aim at the many financially struggling yards in neighbouring South Korea. Mishima said the Korean government’s intervention to save many yards was keeping newbuild prices artificially low. Korean shipbuilders should be allowed to go bankrupt, Mishima said. The Japanese government has expressed similar views to the OECD recently.
