HANSA 12-2021

SCHIFFSTECHNIK | SHIP

SCHIFFSTECHNIK | SHIP TECHNOLOGY Strengthened Chinese repair capabilities Newport Shipping is growing its network of ship repair facilities with shipowners able to access yards in China easier than ever before. The flurry in newbuilding activity is not seen as bad news for the repair business China has seen an explosion of growth over recent years for both shipbuilding and repair work. The attraction to these yards has been the high-quality facilities, economics and their trade route locations making China the place to go to for shipbuilding and repair work. Newport Shipping with its network of 15 yards around the globe, five of which are located in China with another two in Asia, is one of the active palyers in this field. Lianghui Xia, Managing Director, Newport Shipping explains that: »For our Chinese yards it is all about location, capacity, cost and quality. The UPS is we apply our turnkey model at our global network and offer extended payment terms.« Safer than newbuilding business Recently, there has been a flurry of newbuilding orders on the market, especially in relation to more fuel-efficient vessel designs. However, this does not signal bad news for the ship repair industry. »The ship repair business is safer than newbuilding as there is a guaranteed number of vessels to repair. Newbuilding follows the market cycle. Owners can ask for reduction in price or even cancel newbuilding orders when market goes down after newbuilding starts,« Xia comments. »We have seen this before many times. But you cannot cancel repair work as you still need the vessel to operate safely. Repair work is for a short period. If you add 60 HANSA – International Maritime Journal 12 | 2021

SCHIFFSTECHNIK | SHIP TECHNOLOGY Hydraulics > > > © Newport Shipping the retrofit part, I would say that is better business for ship repair yards than for newbuilding yards.« The market is currently facing many challenges arising from new legislation. Newport Shipping sees the key areas for ship repair in the future being planning to control cost, retrofits and transparency in the market. One of the key challenges will be the increased demand for docking space in the future and the yards’ capacity to accommodate vessels. Xia comments about this that: »In general, yes, I think they will be able to meet demand. Newbuilding yards can also move to repair if they choose to. But the other way around is not easy – for repair yards to build a new vessel.« ED excellent pressure solutions HANSA – International Maritime Journal 12 | 2021 61