Hengli Heavy Industry, a fast-emerging shipbuilder from Dalian, has signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) in Geneva.
The collaboration will cover a wide range of areas, including newbuilds, engine manufacturing, ship repair, and vessel retrofitting.
MSC, the world’s largest containerline, has inked multiple large orders across Chinese shipyards this summer, with an orderbook today that stands at 132 ships totalling 1.82m slots, larger than the entire extant fleet of Evergreen, the world’s seventh largest liner, according to statistics from Alphaliner.
Hengli Group, a private oil player in China, which acquired STX Dalian two years ago, now rebranded Hengli Heavy Industry, has detailed plans to up the yard’s annual shipbuilding capacity to 7.1m tons, more than twice its current output.
While the yard has predominantly focused on kamsarmax bulk carriers since its revival top management has said it will now also target VLCCs, VLGCs, large containerships, FPSOs, and high-value-added offshore engineering equipment
STX Dalian was one of the largest shipyards in the world in terms of area space when it was founded in 2006. It went bankrupt in 2014 due to a financial crisis at its parent in South Korea leaving over 20,000 employees out of work.
