Oshima Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. is a

privately held A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese shipbuilding company. The company was founded on February 7, 1973, and began operations in June 1974. It is a joint venture between

Sumitomo Corporation is one of the largest worldwide ''sogo shosha'' general trading companies, and is a diversified corporation. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is a member company of the Sumitomo Group. It is listed on three Japanese stock exchanges ( ...

Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI) is an integrated manufacturer of industrial machinery, automatic weaponry, ships, bridges and steel structure, equipment for environmental protection, including recycling, power transmission equipment, plastic molding machines, laser proces ...

, and the Daizo Corporation.Oshima Shipbuilding Co. 2006, ''Home Page''.

Overviews

The company's main offices and shipyard are located in Oshima, on Oshima island,

Saikai is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of March 2017, the city has an estimated population of 28,815 and a population density of 4,700 persons per km2. The total area is 242.01 km2. The modern city of Saikai was established on ...

City, Nagasaki Prefecture, close to the entrance to Sasebo bay. Because of the shipyard presence, Oshima is nicknamed "the town of shipbuilding', although the island has many natural features.

History

Oshima launched its first ship in 1975. The disruptions in the oil industry of the 1970s caused the company difficulties. Between 1975 and 1979 Oshima reduced its workforce from 1,800 to 785. In response, the company repositioned itself to specialize in building

handymax Handymax and Supramax are naval architecture terms for the larger bulk carriers in the Handysize class. Handysize class consists of Supramax (50,000 to 60,000 DWT), Handymax (40,000 to 50,000 DWT), and Handy (<40,000 DWT). The ships are used for ...

and

panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

bulk carriers. The company has built 400 bulk carriers and delivers about 25 new ships annually to a worldwide client base. As of March 2018, the company has annual revenues of 116,000,000,000 Yen and a staff of 1344 full-time employees. An additional 660 workers work for Oshima on a subcontracting basis.

Products

Oshima Shipbuilding cropped Oshima Shipbuilding Nagasaki Labour Bureau

The company specializes in building bulk carriers. It has a number of standard designs, featuring bulkers with capacities from to in the handysize,

, and

size classes.Oshima Shipbuilding Co. 2006, ''Oshima Bulkers''. The company also has a line of specialized coal carriers with capacities from to . Some of the handymax-sized vessels have optional open and semi-open hatch configurations. The company provides three hull options: single-hull, double-hull, and its own proprietary "Hy-Con" or hybrid hull configuration. Single hulls are available on the smallest and largest of the vessels. Double hulls are available on the smallest and all vessels from to . The Hy-Con configuration is available on ships in the to range. The Hy-Con design was developed to increase safety and the efficiency of cargo handling on bulkers.Oshima Shipbuilding Co. 2006, ''Hy-Con Bulker''. This design starts as a standard single-hulled ship. Then, the forward and aft holds are built up to double-hull structures. Oshima has built a number of other types of ships. The list includes self-unloading bulkers, wood-chip carriers, car carriers, oil tankers, and submersible heavy-lift vessels.Oshima Shipbuilding Co. 2006, ''Other Products''. The company has also built other large structures, including the Oshima Bridge and the Fukuoka Dome.

Notes

References

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External links

Vessels Built list
at Det Norske Veritas
Shipyard at WikiMapiaRisk Assessment of Double-Skin Bulk Carriers
analyzes the Hy-Con design {{Authority control Shipbuilding companies of Japan Sumitomo Heavy Industries