Dalian, already home to one of the world’s largest shipyards, could have another giant name in global shipbuilding soon. Amid the continued recession in the shipbuilding and offshore market, Chinese state run yards are making efforts to optimise their assets and capacity, following a series of bankruptcies among private yards in the past two years.
According to a source in the local shipbuilding industry, Cosco Shipyard Group is considering merging its Dalian yard with Dalian Cosco KHI Ship Engineering (DACKS), a joint venture it established with Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industry.
Cosco Dalian Shipyard, a flagship of the Cosco shipbuilding empire, has one 300,000dwt drydock, one 150,000dwt floating dock, one 80,000dwt drydock and eight ship repair docks, and DACKS has two drydocks at the yard. Together, the joint yard would join the likes of Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co in the world’s top ten in terms of capacity.
When contacted by Spalsh, an official at Cosco Dalian Shipyard said he had not heard anything regarding the merger, while an official at DACKS denied that a merger was under planning.
Splash reported last week that Cosco Guangdong Shipyard is facing difficulties due to lack of new orders and has started to lay off employees and lowering salaries of those who remain.
The merger news in Dalian does not however seem to include any update on STX Dalian, a giant facility to the north of the city, created by South Korea’s STX Group a decade ago that has run into financial difficulties. Despite repeated attempts to sell the yard off, no takers have come forward for STX Dalian.
