Huisman opens new facility in China

Offshore staff

SCHIEDAM, The Netherlands -- Dutch engineering and construction company Huisman opened its new production facility in Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, in the southeast of the People's Republic of China on April 17, 2007. The $40-million facility will produce large steel equipment for the offshore and onshore industry in the Asian region, the company says.

A fast-expanding offshore market and a comparable fast-growing market in the Asian region were Huisman's reasons for expanding production capacity into this area of the world, the company says.

Huisman China currently has an order for 20 offshore cranes and heavy-lift cranes in the capacity range of 300-2,700 metric tons (330-2,976 tons) and a 90-m (295-ft) stinger for the new pipelay vesselSapura 3000.

At present, Huisman China has 200 employees, 95% of whom are local employees. At the end of 2007, Huisman plans to increase to at least 400 employees. The inflow is limited due to the extensive employees training program, the company says. Training will be facilitated by Dutch trainers, supervisors, and other specialists. Simultaneously, an engineering department will be set up to extend the global engineering capacity.

4/17/2007