China drops JES International yard from ‘white list’

The ministry did not explain the reason for dropping Jiangsu New East Marine Equipment, which is wholly-owned by Singapore-listed JES International Holdings.

The decision to drop the Jiangsu province company has been decided after a review by the the relevant authorities and experts, including China National Association of Shipbuilding Industry (Cansi) and China Classification Society (CCS).

The parent firm JES is itself battling to regain financial stability as it booked a first half net loss of RMB11.93m ($1.94m). One of the shipbuilder’s lenders Lyceum Partners has also claimed a non-payment of maintenance fee under a credit facility agreement entered into in August 2013.

Jiangsu Eastern Heavy Industry, another subsidiary of JES, has been blacklisted by the Supreme People’s Court of China for refusing to repay its debt obligations of around RMB15m from five separate lawsuits filed by equipment suppliers.

The Chinese yard, however, has defended itself, saying that the suppliers did not fulfill their obligations as they have failed to rectify the equipment defects.

Meanwhile, the ministry of industry and information technology is currently reviewing a further 21 Chinese shipyards for the ‘white list’. The listed shipyards are expected to receive policy support and will be regarded as reputable shipbuilders.