Vietnamese Shipbuilder Aims for Record Production this Year

According to reports, Vietnamese state-run giant shipbuilder has targeted $1B in production value this year and aims to double it by 2010 through expansion. The corporation planned to expand its nationwide shipyards in a bid to build up three shipbuilding clusters in the northern, central and southern region, Lam added. The northern cluster would focus on building container ships and oil tankers of around 70,000-DWT (Dead Weight Tonnage); ships of between 250,000-300,000 DWT in the central area; and ships of 30,000 DWT in the southern cluster. The corporation is planning to purchase designs of ships and shipbuilding technology from advanced global shipbuilding companies in Japan, Poland and the Republic of Korea. Vinashin will strive this year to achieve the Government-set target of raising the domestically made rate of its products to 60 percent by 2010. Last year, the corporation won more than 10 contracts to build cargo and container ships with Japan, Germany, Britain and Poland. Vinashin posted a production value last year of $690 million and a revenue of $490 million, up 46 percent and 41 percent over the previous year, respectively. Source: Vietnam News Agency