Fincantieri Sets Sights on Chinese Market

Italian shipbuilding group Fincantieri plans to increase its presence in the Chinese market as the country eyes construction of its first cruise ship.

China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) has already expressed interest in building the country’s first self-developed luxury cruise ship.

However, the country’s shipyards still lack the necessary know-how to do so and Fincantieri could use this to their advantage having specialized in this branch.

Speaking at the delivery of the Costa Diadema, the new flagship of Costa Cruises, the company’s CEO Giuseppe Bono outlined the steps the shipyard plans to take so as to ensure further growth of its business.

According to Bono, Fincantieri will dedicate increased attention to the growing Chinese market, but to do so it needs to strengthen its own business, Italian La Stampa writes. This would take the form of a stronger foothold in the market as the company is not interested in sharing its technology and know-how or cooperation partnerships.

Bono did not want to comment on media claims that Finacantieri intends to take over struggling STX France in Saint Nazzaire.

The STX shipyard in France is 20% owned by the French state 20%, the rest is owned by its parent company STX Offshore from Korea.

The company has been put up for sale for almost a year now and the buyer is yet to be identified.

However, it is questionable whether the takeover would be approved by the regulators, as it would set the stage for Fincantieri and Meyer Verft to dominate the market.

Fincantieri has also sets sight on the offshore market. The company has singed a Memorandum of Understanding with Technip in Italy to increase their joint competitiveness by starting to address Italian and Mediterranean Sea offshore markets.

According to Fincantieri, this agreement follows the existing collaboration between the two companies which are bidding for the construction of a platform to be located offshore Sicily.

The areas initially identified for the implementation of this cooperation include the joint development of vessels for the Oil and Gas offshore production, such as FPU (Floating Production Unit) and FRSU (Floating Regasification & Storage Unit).

The agreement also foresees the implementation of a strategic and commercial framework to address a common network of business development activities.