Hongguan Shipyard transforms into environmental equipment factory
Baibuting Group, a multi-sector industrial conglomerate based in Wuhan, has turned its shipbuilding subsidiary Liaoning Hongguan Shipbuilding into an environmental equipment factory in order to deal with the downturn in the shipbuilding industry, SinoShipNews reports.
Baibuting Group acquired two shipyards in Shandong and Liaoning in 2006 and 2007. According to an official from the group, Liaoning Hongguan Shipbuilding has completed all vessels on the orderbook and delivered nine vessels in 2012. However it hadn’t received any new orders during the year, and so the group has decided to turn the shipyard into an environmental equipment factory which will mainly manufacture sewage treatment equipment and desulfurization devices. Meanwhile, the other shipbuilding subsidiary Shandong Baibuting Shipbuilding will continue to build ships for the time being.
According to ICAP Shipping Research, around 38% of Chinese yards have failed to win a single new contract in 2012 and about 10% of Chinese yards have no orders for delivery beyond 2012.
