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Vinashin opens steel laminating plant
The Viet Nam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) yesterday inaugurated the Cai Lan steel laminating plant, the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia in northeastern Quang Ninh Province.
Covering an area of 15ha, the VND2.9 trillion (US$156 million) plant is equipped with modern technologies, including a furnace with a capacity of eight tonnes per hour and the most advanced laminating machine, imported from China and consulted by German experts.
The plant will provide 1 million tonnes of steel with thicknesses of 5 to 50mm, widths of 1.6 to 3m and lengths of 6 to 18m, all of which can be used to build large ships. It will have a capacity of 300,000 tonnes annually when it comes into full operation.
One steel bar can replace six ones that the group has imported from foreign countries.
Its products meet the required standards of registered firms in the shipbuilding industry both inside and outside of the country, including DNV, Lloy'ds (German), NK (Japan), ABS (The US), BV (France) and the Viet Nam Register Office.
Vinashin Chairman Pham Thanh Binh said that the establishment of the plant would improve competitiveness in Viet Nam's shipbuilding industry.
Binh said that steel bars accounted for 20 to 25 per cent of a ship's price. If they calculated all the machines' details, steel would occupy 90 per cent of the vessel.
He added that steel produced by Vinashin could be $100 - 150 per tonne cheaper than the current prices of imported steel.
It was calculated that the group could save $100 million if it used 1 million tonnes of steel per year. In addition, it also helped them shorten waiting times for steel imports, as there were often difficulties in the transport process.
Nguyen Tuan Duong, General Director of Cai Lan Steel Company Limited, said the plant could see a yearly revenue of VND10 trillion ($540 million) and generate jobs for 500 people.
It was expected that Vinashin's total steel productivity would reach 4 million tonnes, meeting all its steel demands for the next year.
Binh said that Vinashin would build ships for export to England, Israel, Japan, German, Italy and Denmark.
"The orders will confirm its position in the world's shipbuilding industry," he added.
vietnamnews
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