Taiwan's state-run China Shipbuilding Corp. (CSC) announced Monday its 2007 goal of increasing its annual operating income to NT$24.4 billion (US$745 million) from last year's NT$19.8 billion and the total tonnage of ships built from 120,000 to 180,000.

The CSC earned revenues of NT$19.8 billion in 2006, NT$800 million higher than legal budget income, with a NT$1.492 billion pretax surplus -- NT$1.153 billion higher than the standard set by the government, according to the Kaohsiung-based company. It also said it should be able to fulfill the government requirement of making a pretax surplus of not less than NT$1.203 billion in 2007.

CSC Board Chairman Frank Lu thanked the staff of the company at an internal meeting that day, saying that the CSC in the last year has managed to improve and speed up manufacturing processes, increase efficiency and bring down costs despite price hikes in raw materials and fierce international competition.

Lu said a continuous growth in demand for ships is expected in 2007, although a vast expansion in the shipbuilding capacities of developing countries nevertheless has raised concern about overproduction.

In the face of the global challenge in the coming year, the CSC is making efforts to develop competitive ship types, to expand its market using its combined advantages in design and technology, and to reduce overall costs by further shortening the shipbuilding duration by one to two months, Lu said.