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Asian shipyards
亞洲造船廠
The deeper the better
越深越好
Korean and Singaporean yards have adapted well to China's challenge
韓國、新加坡的造船業對來自中國的挑戰應付自如
PLENTY of behemoths are being welded into shape in South Korea's shipyards at the moment.
目前，韓國造船廠里大量大型船只已成型。
Clustered around the southern city of Busan, the big three yards—Samsung Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, and Hyundai Heavy Industries—are churning out the world's biggest container ships, 400 metres long; an oil barge whose length, at about 460 metres, or 1,462 feet, is almost half the height of Scafell Pike, England's tallest mountain;
聚集在南部釜山市的三大造船廠—三星重工集團、大宇造船和海洋工程有限公司以及現代重工集團—正大量建造世界最大的集裝箱貨船，其長達400米。油駁大約長460米或1462英尺，幾乎是英國最高山斯科菲峰的一半高。
and some of the largest oil rigs yet built.
一些最大的石油鉆塔還未建成。
But size isn't everything.
但是型號并非全部。
Just as impressive, and more important commercially, are four ultra deepwater drill-ships coming off the line at Samsung Heavy Industries.
同樣驚人，并且在商業性方面更為重要的是由三星重工業生產的4大超級深海鉆井船。
Commissioned by a Danish shipping giant, Maersk, the first one has just been christened: Viking, appropriately enough.
在丹麥輪船巨頭Maersk的授權下，第一艘船命名為Viking再適合不過了。
Described by a Maersk engineer as giant Black & Deckers, these ships are designed for work in the deepest of waters, such as in the Gulf of Mexico.
正如Maersk的一位工程師所描述的巨大的黑色甲板，這些船是用來在海洋最深處工作，例如墨西哥灣。
As inland and coastal wells run dry after decades of exploitation, oil firms are being forced farther out to sea, and ships like Viking, which will be used by Exxon Mobil, are designed to meet their requirements.
隨著幾十年的不斷開采，內陸以及沿海的油井已經快枯竭。石油公司不得不邁向海洋更深處。并且，像Viking這一批船，它們的制造就是為了滿足埃克森美孚這樣的顧客的需求。
Viking can operate in 3,000 metres of water, and then drill down through another 12,000 metres of earth—more than the height of Mount Everest.
Viking能在深入水下3000米工作，然后再向下挖12,000米—深度比珠穆朗瑪峰還高。
The centrepiece of the vessel is the derrick, which is over 60 metres high.
船的中心是高達60余米的油井架吊桿，
But the most advanced bits of kit are probably the six thruster engines.
但是裝置中最先進的部分要數6部推力器引擎。
The engineers claim that they can keep the ship steady and drilling even in waves of up to 9 metres.
工程師們說，這些引擎能夠讓Viking高達9米的巨浪中保持平穩并繼續工作。
Strong technical skills have proved to be the salvation of Korean shipyards.
強有力的專門技能來自于韓國造船廠。
Only a decade or so ago most analysts were assuming that China's heavily subsidised yards would soon take much if not all of South Korea's share of the world shipbuilding market, just as South Korean yards had wiped out much of Europe's capacity a generation before.
大約10年前，大多分析家設想，中國受極大補貼的造船廠，如果不能占據韓國在世界船只建造市場的全部份額，那么至少也得大部分，就如上一年代韓國造船行業一掃歐洲大部分國家造船業一樣。
But it has not worked out like that.
但是中國不及韓國當年。
It is true that China now gets more orders in terms of gross tonnage, but in the year to July 2013 South Korea produced 76.2% more than China by dollar value.
的確，現在中國就總噸數而言，是接到更多訂單，但是按美元來算總價值，到今年7月，韓國的生產值比中國多76.2%。
The Koreans, and their Singaporean counterparts, are making money in a highly competitive market by focusing on complex vessels like Viking, often for the offshore market.
韓國，以及和它相當的新加坡，正通過制造出像Viking這樣的復雜型船只在競爭激烈的市場里獲利，并且他們的專注點在海外市場。
China has failed to break out of the basic bulk-carrier market, where ships may cost as little as 30m.
中國沒能突破制造僅值3000萬美元的基本散裝貨船。
As a result it is China's yards that are struggling, confined to a part of the market that is plagued by overcapacity, whereas Korean and Singaporean order books are almost full. Maersk reckons the market for offshore rigs and drill-ships is now worth 44 billion a year.
結果就是，中國造船業不停地掙扎，被限制在了一個有產能過剩麻煩的市場之中。而韓國跟新加坡的訂單，幾乎全滿。
Sokje Lee, an analyst at J.P. Morgan in Seoul, explains that shipbuilding is nowadays a design and quality business rather than a labour-driven one,
首爾J.P摩根的一位分析家Sokie李解釋道，如今的造船講求的是設計和質量，而不僅僅是靠勞力。
and South Korean firms, once a lower-cost alternative to their European rivals, have spent heavily and wisely in becoming more technically sophisticated.
韓國企業，相對于他們的歐洲對手而言，也曾是一個低耗備胎，但他們花費了大量人力物力變成今天的技術精密型。
Each of the big Korean yards has thousands of in-house designers and engineers.
每一家大型韓國造船廠都有成千上萬的內部設計師和工程師。
This has made them world leaders in the new generation of fuel-efficient, cheap-to-run eco ships.
正是這一點使得他們成為新一代造船業的世界級領軍人物，他們的船，能源高效，操作實惠。
China's yards have focused instead on offering customers low prices and irresistible financing deals.
而中國的造船業關注點在給消費者提供低價船以及難以抵抗的金融交易。
Sometimes they demand as little as 10% of the cost on signing a contract, leaving the other 90% until delivery.
有時，他們在簽訂協議時僅僅只需10%的費用，剩下的90%仍處于交付狀態。
Yet this ruthless competitiveness has not won them a decent share of the lucrative offshore market.
但是這種極其可怕的競爭力并沒有為他們在有利可圖的海外市場贏得可觀的份額。
Here quality, efficiency and sticking to delivery dates are at a premium, and Chinese yards still score poorly on all counts.
在現在市場中，質量，效率以及嚴格遵守交貨時間處于最優先位置，而中國企業在這些方面仍然做得不夠。
A recent report from CLSA, a stockbroker, concludes that China is still far behind the Koreans in the market for offshore vessels.
證券投資機構CLSA最近的一份報告總結了，在海外造船市場，中國遠遠落后于韓國。
Even worse, China will soon lose much of its advantage on price.
更糟的是，中國很快會失去它的價格優勢。
CLSA estimates that labour costs in its yards are rising by 10-15% a year, while productivity remains low.
CLSA估測，在該行業，中國的勞力費用每年上漲10%-15%，但是生產力仍持低。
Singapore's two main yards, Keppel and SembCorp Marine, have also invested heavily in quality and efficiency.
同樣，新加坡主要的兩家造船企業，吉寶和勝科海事也在質量跟效率方面投入大量資金。
They specialise more in deep-sea rigs than in drill-ships and carriers.
相比鉆井船和貨船，他們更專長于深海鉆機。
Keppel, the bigger of the two, is building a record 20 such monsters this year; next year it will deliver the first of three giant, 600m jack-up rigs.
吉寶的規模比勝科更大。今年吉寶預備制造20艘這樣的巨型船，明年將交付三個中的第一個，即值6億美元的自升式鉆井。
Time is money
時間就是金錢
The Singaporeans are also good at building things on time, which is vital in an industry where late delivery can cost the operators of rigs and drill-ships over 500,000 a day.
另外，新加坡造船企業還擁有按時完成制造的有點，這對于拖延交貨一天就得多花50萬在鉆機和鉆井船操作上的企業來說，尤為重要。
Over the past five years, rigs ordered from Keppel and SembCorp were, on average, delivered ahead of schedule, whereas Chinese yards delivered 50-250 days late, says IHS Petrodata, a research firm.
一家研究公司HIS揭示，在過去的5年中，吉寶和勝科的鉆機一般都是在規定時間前交付的，而中國企業，比規定時間晚50-250天。
The only cloud on the horizon for the Koreans and Singaporeans might be fracking.
韓國和新加坡目前的唯一問題可能是液壓破裂法。
The output of tight oil from onshore shale beds has soared in the past few years, especially in America, and could one day reduce the demand for expensive deep-sea rigs and vessels.
沿海頁巖層密致油的產量在過去的幾年中飛增，尤其是在美國，這種油很有肯在某天就降低了昂貴深海鉆機和鉆井船的需求量。
Indeed, Mr Lee even suggests that the offshore business might already have peaked.
誠然，李先生暗示，海外造船業可能達到了頂峰。
But Keppel, for one, is not too worried.
但是吉寶并不是很擔心。
The demand for oil has so far kept rising; and as long as the crude price is above 80 a barrel, the big oil firms will have the money and the incentive to keep developing deepwater fields, and thus to keep ordering its rigs.
一來，油量的需求持續增長，只要每桶原油價格仍在80刀以上，大型的石油公司就有資金以及動力繼續開發深海領域，因此，對鉆機仍有需求。
