CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) yesterday said it was optimistic about its repair business for this year after the shipbuilder secured NT$380 million (US$12.34) in government contracts to repair a military ship and a research vessel.
CSBC has signed an open contract to repair the Republic of China Navy’s Panshi, a fast combat support ship, with the deal covering all maintenance work for five years, CSBC president Tseng Kuo-cheng (曾國正) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
An open contract is an agreement in which terms and clauses can be changed or modified without mutual consent among the signatories.
“Usually there is no settled price in an open contract, but the Ministry of National Defense has made it clear that the repair budget for the Panshi would stand at NT$280 million,” Tseng said.
CSBC, which began work on the 20,000-tonne vessel in 2012, delivered the ship in 2015.
The company rarely signs open contracts, but won this one after the ministry said it was better that the ship’s builder do the repairs, Tseng said.
It was unclear what maintenance the ship needs this year, but CSBC expects to book steady revenue over the next five years, he said, adding that work would be done at its Kaohsiung facilities.
CSBC, the nation’s only listed shipbuilder, this month also signed a contract with the Council of Agriculture’s Fisheries Research Institute to repair the agency’s first fisheries research vessel, Tseng said.
“We did not see many rivals for the tender, as it is not easy to repair a 25-year-old vessel,” he said.
CSBC would need to complete the work at its Keelung facilities by the end of this year, he said.
“Overall, we have had a good beginning to the year and hope to win more repair contracts,” Tseng said.
Although maintenance only contributes 3 percent to 5 percent to CSBC’s overall revenue, the gross margin from such work is quite good, he said.
Meanwhile, CSBC said Orsted A/S had not notified it to suspend a contract to develop pin piles for offshore wind projects.
The Danish firm this month announced it was suspending its offshore wind projects in Taiwan after failing to receive an establishment permit for projects off the Changhua County coast and was unable to secure a power purchase agreement at last year’s feed-in tariff rate.
Separately, CSBC said that it would raise NT$2.25 billion in fresh funds to fuel development.
The company plans to issue 100 million new shares, with most of them to be purchased by a state-run institution, which it declined to specify.
The company’s state-owned stakeholders include the Ministry of Economic Affairs and China Steel Corp (中鋼).
They hold a combined 41.5 percent stake in CSBC, which would still be the largest stake after CSBC’s scheme is completed, the company said.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS