Float awaiting CSRC approval, company says.[China Daily]

China Shipbuilding Industry Co, the country's second-largest shipbuilding company, expects to float its shares in an initial public offering during the first half of next year, a top executive at its parent company said yesterday.

Li Changyin, general manager of China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, however, said the precise timing of the flotation depended upon regulatory approval.

"We are still in the queue for the final green light from the CSRC (China Securities Regulatory Commission)," Li said at the 6th World Shipping Summit in Qingdao yesterday.

The company announced in July it would sell up to 1.995 billion shares, or 30 percent of its enlarged share capital, to seek a listing on the Shanghai bourse.

The company is planning to use 6.44 billion yuan ($943.34 million) of the IPO proceeds to boost its production of ship parts and equipment.

Its listing will follow that of a subsidiary of the China State Shipbuilding Corp, China's other large shipbuilder.

Guo Yaling, an analyst at CITIC Securities in Beijing, said the listing could change the industry map.

"You will have the two big players with greater access to capital and a higher level of management. The weak companies may have less space and there might be consolidation as a result," he said.

Li also said the shipbuilding industry was facing difficult times. Analysts estimate that the combined losses of shipping companies this year could exceed $20 billion.

"It will take three to five years to recover to its normal level," Li said.

Wei Jiafu, president and chief executive officer of COSCO, China's biggest shipping company, opened the summit, saying there were signs of a recovery in the global shipping industry.

He said it was still possible the industry could benefit from a "V-shaped" recovery in the world economy, which could lead to a big upturn in shipping demand.

He added there was evidence some recent measures to cut capacity had stabilized the market.

Tim Smith, group senior vice-president of AP Moller-Maersk, the shipping giant, also said there was evidence container demand was recovering and believed freight rates might go up as a result.

"The supply and demand situation is stabilizing and becoming more balanced, " he said.

Initiatives such as slow steaming, where ships are deliberately slowed down, which reduces fuel costs and avoids the heavy cost of taking ships out of service, had reduced some of the excess capacity, Smith said.

Gao Yanming, chairman of Hebei Ocean Shipping Company, called for the industry to compulsorily scrap all ships over 23 years old in order to reduce shipping capacity.

"The more we scrap, the better the market will be, " he said.