Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd.'s shipbuilding venture in China will delay construction of a second dock in Dalian by three years as the global recession dries up demand.
The plan will be postponed until 2015 instead of early 2012, said Tomokazu Taniguchi, president of Kobe-based Kawasaki's shipbuilding unit. Taniguchi declined to provide details of the funding, which will be shared between the Kawasaki group and partner China Ocean Shipping Group Co., or Cosco. Kawasaki will also offer technical assistance, he said.
The financial crisis ended a five-year shipping boom in the fourth quarter of 2008, prompting Asian yards to scale back spending. Taniguchi, 62, forecast ship orders would fall by more than half this fiscal year, instead of an April target for a 54 percent increase to ¥110 billion.
"Under such circumstances, construction of the second should be postponed," Taniguchi said in a Thursday interview in Tokyo. "We haven't got a single order" for new ships since the fourth quarter.