Offshore staff

HELSINKI, Finland --Wärtsilä Corp. has opened a new, fully equipped service workshop close to Saigon port in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This new shop is part of Wärtsilä's development of its business activities in this rapidly-growing market for the company's products and services to the Vietnamese shipping, shipbuilding, and power industries, the company says. Two days previously, Wärtsilä opened a new branch office in Hanoi.

The renovation work and installation of workshop equipment began in mid-2006. Small-scale commercial operation started in January 2007, and the volume has steadily risen in the five months since, the company says. The 850-sq m (9,149-sq ft) service workshop has facilities for a variety of work on Wärtsilä products and other brands of engines.

Wärtsilä has 15 employees in Vietnam, eight of whom are engineers doing repairs in the workshop as well as onboard ships or at power plants. The nucleus of this workforce received eight months of training in the skills needed to run the new workshop at Wärtsilä in Singapore.

The new service workshop, in southern Vietnam, is well situated because many of the company's marine and power plant customers and repair shipyards are in and around Ho Chi Minh City and Vung Tau City, Wärtsilä says.

In the offshore sector, there are supply vessels, crane barges, jackup rigs, and FSO equipped with Wärtsilä engines and propulsion systems, the company says.

The owners and managers of foreign-flagged ships also welcome the opening of the Wärtsilä workshop as it gives them the opportunity to undertake major overhauls, maintenance, and repairs when their vessels have sufficient time in local ports, Wärtsilä says.

The company has had a permanent presence in Vietnam since 1994, when it set up a representative office in Ho Chi Minh City. In 1998, Wärtsilä opened founded Wärtsilä Vietnam Co Ltd. after obtaining a business license to operate as a 100% foreign-owned service company.

5/10/2007