AsiaShipyards

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to downsize shipbuilding operations

Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is planning to downsize its shipbuilding operations in order to deal with the current market downturn, Japanese media Nikkei has reported.

MHI has decided to stop taking new orders for large passenger ships, will spin off its design and development division, and it will also share shipyards with other shipbuilders. The shipyard now plans to focus on smaller ships with simpler specifications.

At the end of August, MHI said it was in discussions with Imabari Shipbuilding, Oshima Shipbuilding and Namura Shipbuilding to form a grouping that would “collectively provide Japan’s commercial ship industry with robust global competitive strength”.

In the first half of this year, new shipbuilding orders in Japan plunged 82%, the worst performance seen since 2008.

Another Japanese shipbuilder, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, may exit the shipbuilding business entirely saying last week that it would decide by the end of March 2017 whether to continue in the sector.

Jason Jiang

Jason is one of the most prolific writers on the diverse China shipping & logistics industry and his access to the major maritime players with business in China has proved an invaluable source of exclusives. Having been working at Asia Shipping Media since inception, Jason is the chief correspondent of Splash and associate editor of Maritime CEO magazine. Previously he had written for a host of titles including Supply Chain Asia, Cargo Facts and Air Cargo Week.
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