There is a great deal going on in the world of ship repair today with increasing regulation, environmental pressures and commercial competition pushing ship owners and managers to seek more efficient and cost-effective yards working to high standards. Vessel types and sizes are changing.

The result is that many owners and managers are now reassessing their requirements and looking for ship repair yards which can offer better facilities as well as streamlined, modern methodologies. Simplex-Turbulo Co Ltd represents three dry docks, Jurong (Singapore), Astander (Northern Spain) and Fujian Huadong (China), all of which offer attractive solutions to many of today’s requirements.

The newest agency is for the Fujian Huadong shipyard. As with other yard representations this yard ticks all the important boxes – location, facilities, efficiency, and quality, all at an acceptable cost. The Fujian Huadong shipyard is located on the northern side of Fujian Luoyuan Bay, possibly the best sheltered deep-water port in China. It’s centrally positioned on the eastern seaboard of China, equidistant from Shanghai and Guangzhou and north west of Taiwan.

It’s particularly well placed for many of the most popular Asian sea routes. It has the additional advantage of having a very reasonable climate and not suffering from the extreme cold (and resulting delays to work progress) of the Shanghai winter, or the tropical heat which hampers work in yards further south. Fujian is a very versatile yard, able to carry out repairs on a very wide range of vessels, including container ships, tankers, bulkcarriers and specialist vessels such as bunkering stations.

The yard has three very large docks and a lot of pier space. Fujian Huadong shipyard often works together with major shipyards in both Shanghai and Guangzhou, for example in the building of a floating hotel for the offshore sector, built in Guangzhou, which was then moved and fitted out in Fujian Huadong.

All these advantages have resulted in the yard building an international customer base with fleets from Hong Kong, South Korea, China, Singapore, Germany and Greece. Fujian Huadong is a new shipyard built in 2011, with all the latest technology and using modern working practices and methods. A second phase of construction is now in progress which will result in an additional 240m x 120m dock dedicated to specific engineering projects; this will make it one of the largest and most attractive repair shipyards on this 800 miles long Chinese coast.