Beijing rides to the rescue of endangered yards

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Beijing: Shipbuilding has been identitfied as one of 10 pillar industries that the State Council will pump urgent cash into in order to stave off disaster, local media has reported. China has made plain its aims to be the largest shipbuilder by 2015 – a huge raft of new yards stand testament to that pledge. However, since the third quarter of last year the nation’s shipbuilders have been hit hard by countless order cancellations in the wake of the global financial crisis.
"Since November last year, the State Council has identified 10 industries including steel, vehicle and shipbuilding sectors, as targets of the upcoming rejuvenating programme," said an executive from China State Shipbuilding Corp yesterday.
"We have been expecting the measures to come sooner or later."
The draft of the rescue plan for the shipbuilding industry had been completed by the National Development and Reform Commission and would be rolled out shortly before or after the Lunar New Year, the National Business Daily reported yesterday.
Essentially, it appears that the state owned shipping lines will be forced to prop up the yards, pledging further orders to pick up the international slack. The Export-Import Bank of China is also likely to kick in extra cash to yards.  [21/01/09]