THE president of the China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC) yesterday thanked the Hong Kong shipping community for supporting China's efforts to join the ranks of the world's top shipbuilding nations.
Speaking at a reception to mark the 12th anniversary of CSSC's Hong Kong subsidiary China United Shipbuilding Co (CUSBC), Wang Rongsheng said Hong Kong owners had ordered newbuildings from China ''one after another'' over the past four years.
More than 60 per cent of the orders for the 1.6 million deadweight tonnes (dwt) clinched by CUSBC since 1991 were placed by Hong Kong companies.
These included Island Navigation Corp, Far East Enterprising Co, World-Wide Shipping, Wah Kwong Shipping, Tai Chong Cheang Steamship, OAK Steamship, Continental Mariner and Pacific Basin.
He said CUSBC, as the first company of its kind set up overseas by CSSC, had become a bridge linking the markets at home and abroad for CSSC.
CUSBC has so far obtained export orders totalling 2.6 million dwt, representing more than one-third of the export orders received by CSSC.
He said CSSC had overcome the many hardships it had faced since the early 1980s, such as the severe depression in the world market as well as those brought along by the changes in China's economic structure.