China Industry: March 7

Posted by Reading Time: 5 minutes

Mar. 7 – This is a regular series of relevant industry news from around China.

Air transport
• Chinese budget airline Spring Airlines will promote the launch of its service between Japan’s Takamatsu and Shanghai in March by selling cheaper one-way tickets to a limited number of travellers, Kyodo News wrote.

The discounted tickets will be sold during the first month of the service’s operation and will cost JPY3,000 (US$36). Regular tickets will be sold for JPY6,000 (US$73). From the second month of the service’s operation the cheapest tickets will cost JPY4,000 (US$49).

The airline will operate the charter service four times a week using Airbus A320 aircraft.

• China Development Bank will support China Eastern Airlines with a funding of US$7.6 billion during the 2011-2015 period, according to a deal inked by the parties last month. The air carrier will use the funding to buy and hire jets, construct hangars and other facilities.

Marine transport and shipbuilding
• Danish box carrier Maersk Line, part of oil and shipping group AP Moller-Maersk A/S, said on February 23 that it will make changes in its Asia-North Europe service. The changes will be fully implemented by June of this year, the company added.

The first westbound change to the new network will start with Maersk Line’s AE10 service from Ningbo on April 7, continuing into Shanghai, Yantian and Tanjung Pelepas. The company’s other strings will also follow a similar rotation through Asia, with direct calls included to Japanese and Korean ports and Xiamen, Hong Kong, Nansha.

Maersk Line said it will continue to provide direct and frequent coverage of Felixstowe, Rotterdam and Bremerhaven plus direct calls to Hamburg, Le Havre, Zeebrugge, Antwerp, Gdansk, Aarhus and Gothenburg. Eastbound changes start from Gdansk on May 13 proceeding through Northern European ports and into South China.

• China Shipping Haisheng said on February 24 it has decided to sell its Dongshanling vessel to Jingjiang Dunfeng Ship-breaking, expecting to cash in between US$2.3 million and US$2.6 million.

Dongshanling will reach the mandatory vessel retirement age of 33 years on March 15, 2011, the company said, adding that its unaudited net book value as of January 31, 2011 stood at US$248,000.

The company noted that the sale is likely to bring a one-off gain of some US$2 million and US$2.3 million.

• China Shipping Development Co has received two ships from China State Shipbuilding Corporation, SinoCast Transportation Beat said.

The first ship is a 308,000-tonnage petroleum tanker. It will be used to transport crude oil to China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation from Saudi Arabia during its first sailing.

The second vessel, a 230,000-tonnage ore transporter, will ship Australian iron ore to Shougang Group.

The delivery of the two ships is part of an existing agreement between CSSC and China Shipping.

Solar power
• China-based solar modules-maker Aide Solar, part of the Panjit roup, said on March 1 that its poly-crystalline black frame solar panels have been certified by Underwriters Laboratories.

The 200-kilowatt to 250-kilowatt panel series are tailored for residential installations, with the black frame designed to blend with roof lines and tiles. The series include both 54-cell and 60-cell panels.

• U.S. thin-film photovoltaic solar cell technologies developer XsunX Inc said on Wednesday it has partnered with Taiwanese solar modules-maker Telecomps Technology Corp Ltd to make solar modules using XsunX’s CIGSolar cells.

The Taiwanese company will assemble modules under an original equipment manufacturer agreement using XsunX’s CIGSolar technology. Telecomps and XsunX will work together to complete back-end CIGSolar solar module assembly capabilities.

According to XsunX, its copper indium gallium (di) selenide thin film solar cells, to be patented as CIGSolar cells, are a low-cost, high-efficiency alternative to silicon cells.

XsunX’s president and COO, Joseph Grimes, said that Telecomps’ module assembly business capabilities will boost the adoption of the CIGSolar technology in the Chinese market.

• U.S. solar thermal technology provider SkyFuel Inc said on Thursday it has agreed to install its parabolic trough solar collectors at a 50-megawatt concentrating solar power plant in China.

The company said it has signed a contract with project developer Huludao Ruixinda Industry Co, the State-owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission (SASAC) and the U.S.-China Economic and Cultural Development Alliance (ECDA).

SkyFuel’s low-cost parabolic trough concentrating solar collector will supply heat to a standard steam driven power plant which will deliver electricity to the city of Huludao.

SkyFuel said this is its first project in China and it is seeking solar power opportunities in the country together with SASAC and U.S.-China ECDA.

• Taiwanese solar cell-maker Neo Solar Power Corp, or NSP, launched on the market a new mono-crystalline solar cell with average conversion efficiency of up to 18.4 percent.

The company introduced the 6-inch (15-centimeter) Black18 cell at the PV Expo in Tokyo last week. Neo Solar estimates that using its new product in the standard 72-solar-cell module can bring capacity to more than 305 watts.

• China Solar Energy Holdings Ltd said today it sold 720 million common shares, raising some US$10.5 million. The proceeds will go towards improving the company’s capital and financial position.

China Solar initially offered 1.42 billion shares, corresponding to 19.83 percent of its share capital before the transaction. The shares were priced at HKD 0.114 each, a 19.72 percent discount on the average closing price of the stock for the last five trading days prior to the start of the offering.

Wind Power
• Chinese power producer Huaneng Power International last month said it has received regulatory approval for its 49.5 megawatt wind power project in China.

The consent was awarded by the Liaoning Provincial Development and Reform Commission of China.

The Huaneng Liaoning Changtu Taiping project would include 33 units of 1.5 megawatt wind turbines, the company said.

Huaneng Power expects the project’s cost to amount to US$71.3 million.

• U.S. American Superconductor Corporation said today it had received initial wind turbine electrical control system orders from Chinese Dongfang Turbine, a subsidiary of Dongfang Electric Corporation.

DTC, which will receive the systems this year, will use them in its 3 megawatt and 5 megawatt full conversion wind turbines, which were designed by and jointly developed with AMSC.

DTC, China’s third largest wind turbine maker, intends to start volume shipments of these multi-megawatt wind turbines in 2012.

• Swedish company SKF AB said on February 28 it would supply bearings to Chinese wind-turbine maker Goldwind under a deal worth US$79.4 million.

The SKF Nautilus bearing will be the main shaft arrangement for Goldwind’s new 2.5 megawatt direct-drive turbine. Deliveries are scheduled for 2011 and the first quarter of 2012.

In 2010, SKF was named best overall supplier by Goldwind, formally known as Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co Ltd.

• U.S. clean technology firm CleanTech Innovations has won a US$6.2 million wind tower order from a unit of Chinese energy major China HuaNeng Group.

The company said on March 2 it is pursuing additional contracts from HuaNeng and other key players in China’s energy sector. It expects to sign more wind tower delivery contracts during the current year.

China HuaNeng, one of CleanTech’s long-standing customers, booked revenues of US$35 billion in 2010. At the end of the year, total assets stood at US$99 billion.

Hydropower
• China Power New Energy Development said on Friday its shareholders unanimously approved the issue of 2.8 billion common shares for hydropower firm China Yangtze Power.

Via the transaction, China Yangtze will become China Power New Energy’s largest shareholder, controlling a 26.2 percent stake in the company. The deal will dilute China Power New Energy Ltd’s shareholdings to 25.93 percent from 35.14 percent.

China Power New Energy Development will use the proceeds of US$270 million to support new clean energy projects.

This industry report brief is courtesy of AII Data Processing.