Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Chongqing set to be major steel plate manufacturer
Chongqing: The Yangtze river city of Chongqing's burgeoning shipbuilding industry is set to be boosted with Chongqing Iron and Steel's plans to make the largest ship plate plant in China. The company is ramping up production, especially of its 4,100 mm plate, with a view to having an annual plate production capacity of 6.5m tonnes by the end of the first phase of the new facility's construction at the end of 2010.
Chongqing lies at the very upper reaches of the navigable part of the Yangtze river, China's longest waterway. Chuandong Shipyard and Donfeng Shipyard are the two principle shipbuilders in Chongqing, the world's largest municipality. Last year China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) decided to invest RMB10bn in establishing an industrial base in Chongqing covering four industries, namely specialised ships, ship engines, power supply equipment, and railway locomotives - a giant project that will take till 2015 to complete.
The downturn in global shipbuilding has begin a shift in industry focus towards the demolition side of shipping, with China-based Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding becoming the latest yard to target this buoyant sector. The yard intends to set up a $88m ship demolition joint venture in the municipality with Chongqing Iron and Steel, which would begin operations by the end of next year. [19/08/09]
