As part of the Singapore government's efforts to curb reliance on overseas labour the ratio of foreign to local workers that the country’s shipyards can employ is capped at 4.5:1 this year and will to 4:1 in 2016.
Speaking at the annual results briefing of parent Keppel Corp last week, ceo Loh Chin Hua said, “With the foreign worker ratio starting to come down from this year we have been working very hard in terms of upgrading yards in the region like Bintan and Nantong into production yards for us.
“So we do see that over time, not because of the market, but because of the way that the regulations work in Singapore we will have to make better use of our overseas to do more of the work outside of Singapore.”
Keppel has been developing its capabilities at PT Bintan Offshore in Indonesia, Keppel Batangas and Keppel Subic Shipyards in the Philippines, and Keppel Nantong in China.
According Keppel O&M ceo YY Chow it has increased its steel production throughput at its Nantong yard from 6,000 – 7,000 tonnes annually three years ago to 35,000 tonnes today.
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