Baosteel and CSSC to invest in shipbuilding jv

Shanghai: China's largest steel producer, The Shanghai Baosteel Group and the China State Shipbuilding Corporation ate to pool their resources to establish the country's largest shipbuilding base. The agreement, signed on Friday, will see the companies spend $1.25bn on construction of two production lines at the Jiangnan Changxing Shipbuilding Base, which will have a 4.5m dwt annual capacity. CSSC will own a 65% majority stake and Baosteel will own 35% of the venture, which is already reported to have attracted orders worth 7m dwt including the construction of 17 VLCCs. [19/03/07]