Ships for Shanghai

has opened a new factory in Shanghai, China, to serve the world’s largest commercial shipbuilding market.

Together with an existing facility in Korea, the factory forms a new production hub for north-east Asia enabling the company to supply shipyards with marine equipment at the point of manufacture – and open up new markets in the process.

The Asian shipbuilding market is currently worth £19 billion annually and accounts for around 80 per cent of all global construction. In 2004 new orders and deliveries reached record levels.

Marine President Saul Lanyado, who officially opened the site today, said: “The factory provides a long-term platform for expanding our operations here, and with our factory in Korea, it will act as a hub for the Asian marketplace”

Employing 75 people, and set to employ up to 150 by the middle of next year, the 9,000 square metre facility is the company’s largest investment in China to date. The equipment produced or assembled there includes tunnel thrusters, rudders, control and steering systems and deck machinery.