MHI to Start Alliance Discussions
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has announced its intention to start discussions toward forming new alliances with three Japanese shipyards: Imabari Shipbuilding, Oshima Shipbuilding and Namura Shipbuilding.
In October 2015, MHI established two new group companies in Nagasaki, Japan, to perform business related to shipbuilding, part of an initiative targeting structural reform of the company's commercial ship operations. Subsequently, the company says, the environment surrounding the shipbuilding industry has undergone dramatic changes on global scale, to the extent that today MHI recognizes the need to undertake swift and progressive steps to secure the competitive strength required by Japan's shipbuilding industry in order to compete and mark sustained growth in the global marketplace.
In line with this emerging awareness, the discussions offer strong potential as mutually complementary, synergy-generating partners that would collectively provide Japan's commercial ship industry with robust global competitive strength, says MHI.
The move toward forming these alliances targets the integration of MHI’s strengths in shipbuilding technology and engineering with the three prospective partners' manufacturing capabilities and cost competitiveness. By combining these strengths, the alliances would boost ship development capabilities, enhance negotiation response and enable further cost reductions, thereby accelerating the buildup of competitive strength in the global market.
MHI is also considering the establishment of a technology center to undertake advanced technology development and education in shipbuilding technologies and skills. Establishment of the new facility would target the creation of new basic technology and human resources development to disseminate Japan's commercial ship technologies globally, as a way of carrying on and further developing Japan's shipbuilding technologies applying MHI's resources in commercial ship technology.
Going forward, MHI plans to issue a broad call for participation in the technology center by Japanese shipbuilders and marine transport companies with the aim of elevating the global presence of Japan's shipbuilding industry through integration of the diversified knowledge possessed by partners in the industry.