Oshima Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. is a privately held Japanese

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befo ...

company. The company was founded on February 7, 1973, and began operations in June 1974. It is a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

between Sumitomo Corporation, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, 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 City,

Nagasaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the northeast. N ...

, close to the entrance to

Sasebo is a core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is also the second largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. On 1 June 2019, the city had an estimated population of 247,739 and a population density of 581 persons p ...

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 and panamax

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, eco ...

s. 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 The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

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

s. It has a number of standard designs, featuring bulkers with capacities from to in the

handysize Handysize is a naval architecture term for smaller bulk carriers or oil tanker with deadweight of up to 50,000 tonnes, although there is no official definition in terms of exact tonnages. Handysize is also sometimes used to refer to the span of ...

, handymax, and panamax 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 carrier Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or usin ...

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...

s, 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 The is a baseball field, located in Chūō-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. Built in 1993, the stadium was originally named and has the capacity of 38,585 seats. With a diameter of 216 meters, the Fukuoka PayPay Dome is the world's largest geodesic dome. T ...

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