In the 2007 International Maritime Expo China held in Guangzhou recently, the blueprint of the Longxue shipyard of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) was shown to the public for the first time and attracted much attention. The shipyard occupies an area of 2.53 million square meters and is equipped with six docks and four gantry cranes with capacity of 600 tons.

According to Yu Baoshan, General Manager of CSSC Guangzhou Longxue Shipyard Co. Ltd, the product line of Longxue will be focusing on civil ships such as VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier), large container carrier, VLOC (Very Large Ore Carrier) and large LPG carriers.

It is expected that the first phase of shipyard construction will allow an annual building capacity of twenty 2,120,000 dwt (dead weight tons) of shipping and the production schedule of the facility will be full until year 2010.

As estimated CSSC Longxue's development will require around 2,000 new staff every year. 'This year we have over 1,000 staff which will grow to 2,000-2,500 next year and we will have 8,000 staff in 2012', said an official
 
Editor: Yan