One of the largest shipbuilding bases in China is being resuscitated after an eight-year hiatus due to bankruptcy.
Hengli Heavy Industry Group, a subsidiary of petrochemical giant Hengli Group, has paid RMB1.729bn ($257m) to acquire all the assets of STX Dalian, with a view to making the yard into an offshore manufacturing base.
STX Dalian was one of the largest shipyards in the world in terms of area space when it was founded in 2006. It went bankrupt in 2014 due to a financial crisis at its parent in South Korea leaving over 20,000 employees out of work. Many previous attempts to sell the yard have fallen through.
The fall of STX Dalian triggered the collapse of the economy at Dalian’s Changxing Island, where the local economy was built around the shipyard.
In South Korea, STX Offshore & Shipbuilding was rebranded last year to K Shipbuilding and has since managed to win a string of orders.
