MAJOR players from Japan's shipping industry are in Brunei Darussalam in a bid to promote international cooperation in the shipbuilding market.

Members of the Cooperative Association of Japan Shipbuilders (CAJS) and Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) Singapore yesterday presented talks which focused on introducing the Japanese shipbuilding and ship machinery technologies. With the close bilateral ties already in place, yesterday's seminar further strengthened the ties afforded by Brunei Darussalam and Japan.

"We are continuously introducing the Japanese Shipbuilding industry all over the world. Since we had no prior experience here in Brunei, we have started with an introduction to Japan's ship industry and ship technology," said Nobuyuki Tanaka, Director of Shipbuilding division at Jetro.

Tanaka added that the local oil and gas industry being the major sector of Brunei Darussalam's economy, there is already a market for work boats and passenger markets.

Despite having a backlog of orders, the Japanese shipping industry is still looking for potential opportunities, in particular within emerging markets, says Tanaka. "We want to know what they (Brunei's shipping industry) expect of Japan's Ship industry." He also hopes to have more talks or seminars if there is a keen interest in Brunei Darussalam. "Today's seminar is abit general, but in the future we could hold more seminars with specific themes," said the Jetro Director.

The worldwide economic buoyancy has brought an increasing global shipbuilding demand, with shipbuilders across the world currently facing a busy period and enjoying well filled order books and record high shipbuilding prices.

On the other hand the cost of material and equipment, in particular steel has been on the rise in recent years and have meant earnings of shipbuilders in japan are not able to fully reap the benefits of the situation at hand. In tandem with facilities in newly emerging shipbuidling nations expanding substantially, the possibility of a wide supply demand gap could mean even more intense industry wide competition when demand drops.

Meanwhile the Japan has outlined its plans to maintain its market share within the international ship building industry by making every possible effort to further enhance their productivity and competitiveness.

The event was well received by the participants, who were made up of the local shipping industry as well as representatives from the Ministry of Communications and the Brunei Economic Development Board. For Brunei Darussalam the chance to develop the local shipping industry has been an idea well received. In particular the Human and Resource Development spinoffs that could be obtained from potential technology and skill transfer initiatives.

The Brunei Times