Sinopacific quashes rumours of unpaid wages to shipyard workers

The privately-owned Chinese shipyard noted that there have been reports citing inaccurate and unverified information regarding yard workers claiming for unpaid wages.

Reports said that on 17 September, part of the subcontracted labour workers held a rally infront of Sinopacific's Dayang Shipyard in Wuxi to claim for their unpaid wages, Sinopacific said in a statement.

"In reality, all workers' wages for the past months had already been paid in full, while those due for August were delayed for a few days without advance notice, due to the group's recent equity restructuring and adjustments of inner management procedures," Sinopacific stated.

"Some workers had the foregoing behaviours after taking rumours as truth that the company was unable to pay their wages. After full communication with the group's senior management on site, the real situation was clarified and the rally was quickly dispersed. Wages due were paid in full the following day," the statement explained.

Sinopacific noted that the recent incident has raised the company's awareness that in the current context of the shipbuilding industry, whereby growth is sluggish, there is a general concern among labour service companies and workers that wages cannot be paid as scheduled.

The group pointed out that it will ensure timely communication with its workforce and that payments of wages are always carried out.

Jiang Qiang, ceo of Sinopacific, who spoke to Seatrade Maritime News in a recent interview, has anticipated a further three tough years ahead for the bulk carrier and OSV shipbuilding businesses.

In the first seven months of this year, Sinopacific delivered 23 ships, including both bulkers and OSVs. The yard has 83 new vessel orders on hand and it aims to deliver 45 vessels this year, giving the yard a 15% year-on-year increase in vessel production value.