Kaohsiung: Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian (pictured) encouraged CSBC Corp., Taiwan to work toward greater heights Saturday during a plaque-unveiling ceremony for the renamed state-owned company, local media reported.
Chen, accompanied by Premier Su Tseng-chang, CSBC Chairman Lu Feng-hai and Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Ruey-long Chen, presided over the name-changing ceremony to formally shed its original name of China Shipbuilding Corp. (CSBC).
CSBC Corp. Taiwan is the latest in a series of state-owned enterprises that have changed their names recently under the government's "name-rectification" campaign to remove the words "China" or "Chinese" from its official titles and add "Taiwan" to avoid confusion with the similarly named counterparts in China and underscore Taiwan-centric consciousness by showing that they are Taiwanese companies.
Chen noted that in 2000, CSBC posted losses of NT$6.7 billion (US$203.03 million) and faced being closed down until then-Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-i promoted a restructuring plan for the company by laying off half of its employees and slashing salaries by 35 percent for those who remained.
He lauded the CSBC for being a new business model after the restructuring program, saying that it reported a net profit of NT$200 million in January and is expected to reach NT$3 billion by the end of the year.
CSBC Chairman Lu, the former head of Yang Ming, reported that orders placed with the company extend to 2010 and that the orders are the fourth-largest in the world, while in terms of shipbuilding volume, the 18th-largest. [05/03/07]
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