Chinese Firm Hopes to Challenge Japan and Korea With Iranian Supertanker

August 19, 2000 - 0:0
BEIJING A Chinese shipbuilder started work on Friday on a 300,000-ton supertanker for Iran that could help China challenge the supremacy of Japan and South Korea in building such ships, state media reported.
Representatives of the National Iranian Oil Tanker Company, which has placed a 370-million-dollar order for five supertankers, attended a ceremony in the northeastern port of Dalian to mark the cutting of the first plate by Dalian new ship, the official Xinhua news agency said.
China's largest ever ship order was financed by export credits totaling 325 million dollars from the Chinese Eximbank, the agency said.
The building of the five 300,000-ton oil tankers would enable China to "break the monopoly of Japan and South Korea," it said.
(DPA)