Ship repair is a goldmine for Fiji, with potentials to become a hub in the Pacific greatly limited by aging infrastructure, said Fiji Ships and Heavy Industries Ltd (FSHIL) operations manager Navinesh Kumar.
“Expressions of interest have been received from Asia, Australia … everyone wants to partner with Fiji Ships. Not only in the area of ship repair but in ship building as well,” Mr Singh said.
“Ship repair is a gold mine for Fiji.”
The Government this week repeated intention to revive the ship building industry and strengthen ship repair services when Prime Minister and Minister for Public Enterprises Sitiveni Rabuka officiated at the Fiji Ports Corporation Ltd and Fiji Ports Terminal Ltd dividend and bonus payout.
“The coalition Government is currently revising what has been done in the past and review the opportunity in ship repair and ship building,” Mr Rabuka said.
“There are huge opportunities for us in that sector and there are giants in the Asian region that are willing to cooperate with us.
“We have the opportunity and the potential to once again be the hub of ship repair, ship building in the region,” he said.
Mr Kumar said the company currently docks and repairs an average of five ships a month, mostly fishing vessels that come from around the Pacific region — from Marshall Islands, Vanuatu, from Tuvalu, Tonga and Kiribati – and this with just its 500-tonne slipway in operation.
Its 1000-tonne slipway will be operational by February.
He said the company’s low cost but highly skilled labour would need new technologies in order to mitigate the high cost of raw materials in ship building.
“The last ship we built was the Reef Endeavour (in 1996), so we do want to revive it.
“We have the facilities, our labour costs are very low and the only thing we need now is new technology,” he said.
In July, Australia-based naval architecture firm Sea Transport Solutions (STS) was reported to be in discussions with the Government for the supply of some of its vessel designs to help the shipbuilding industry.
