Nam Cheong to build new shipyard in Malaysia
Malaysia's largest offshore construction company Nam Cheong plans to invest RM 60 million (approximately 101 million yuan) to build the Labuan Halal Centre in Malaysia as a shipyard, and gradually transfer its ship repair business in China and Indonesia to Labuan .
The Labuan Authority and Nam Cheong recently held the "Investment Approval Memorandum Transfer Ceremony" of Labuan Halal Center.
This huge investment is an initiative of Labuan Authority to enable the full operation of Labuan Halal Center, which was originally a retail warehouse. Nam Cheong will start operations in Labuan from January 2020. It is estimated that RM 60 million will be invested in 2 years. This will create at least 1,500 jobs in Labuan and indirectly improve the social and economic status of Labuan people. According to the plan, Nam Cheong will transfer its business from China and Batam Island to Labuan Halal Center to engage in activities such as manufacturing, welding, offshore ship repair and training centers.
Khalid Abdul Samad, Minister of the Federal Territory of Malaysia, said: "The Labuan Halal Center and its existing warehouse facilities and logistic support are located by the sea, which is of strategic importance to the shipbuilding industry."
"Nam Cheong is a Malaysian company with an international reputation in the shipbuilding industry and should have the opportunity to relocate its business activities to Labuan. We hope this will help improve the local economy and the well-being of the people as Nam Cheong's shipbuilding business will Labuan, which relies heavily on the oil and gas industry, develops together. "
It is understood that Nam Cheong's shipyard in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia has an area of 12.6 hectares and can deliver up to 12 ships (depending on the size and complexity of the OSV). As demand increased, in 2006, Nam Cheong began to outsource shipbuilding work to Chinese shipyards, thereby gaining additional production capacity. Since 2007, Nam Cheong has successfully delivered to more than 100 ships.
Nam Cheong was originally a offshore builder in the strict sense of Malaysia. Nam Cheong's business strategy was to speculate on the construction of offshore support vessels (OSV) for inventory, and to find buyers near the completion of the project, so as to obtain better prices; If no buyer is found, Nam Cheong will temporarily add the new OSV to its fleet.
In the past few years, due to the severe downturn of the offshore market, Nam Cheong has a large number of OSVs to be delivered and failed to find buyers. At the same time, customers who have confirmed orders have also chosen to delay delivery or even cancel orders. Affected by this, Nam Cheong began to switch to chartering business. In the first half of this year, Nam Cheong's chartering business revenue increased significantly, while the shipbuilding business did not have any revenue in the first half. Currently, Nam Cheong's fleet has expanded to 34 ships, with an average age of less than 5 years. It is one of the youngest OSV operators in Malaysia.
