CHINA Ocean Shipping, the mainland’s dominant maritime firm, is investing Yuan2bn ($241m) in what is envisioned to become the largest shiprepair facility in the world.

The base will be in the Zhoushan archipelago in Zhejiang province, two hours’ steaming from Shanghai, which is likely to become the world’s biggest port in the coming decade providing plenty of repair work, particularly for very large crude carriers and containerships.

Around the Zhoushan islands, which lie just to the north of Ningbo, are a myriad of small, local repair facilities. The area is best known for the tranquil island of Putuoshan, one of the four most sacred Buddhist sites in China.

Cosco has taken the decision to build the base in this area because of the obvious deepwater attraction as well as its central location on China’s coastline.

The move allows Cosco’s other facilities to concentrate more on shipbuilding. Cosco’s main yards in Dalian, Guangzhou and Nantong in particular will be freed up to concentrate more on building.

Cosco Shipyard, the dedicated repair subsidiary, has allowed SembCorp from Singapore to invest in its yards portfolio, providing the Chinese with capital to expand and ensuring the Singaporeans continue to get a slice of the repair business despite their home yards becoming increasingly expensive compared to China and Vietnam.

Vietnam has massively increased its repair facilities in the last three years. South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo, sitting on a backlog of some 130 newbuilds, has been gradually transferring all its repair work to a joint venture in central Vietnam, Hyundai Vinashin.

Repair right now is a hot business as owners are unwilling to scrap their ships in this period of unusually high freight rates and full yards.

At present China’s largest repair facility is in Chengxi.