A MATTER OF STATUS

SE Asian shipyards, traditionally smaller, look to build affordable vessels but may face economic peril in the post-COVID-19 world.

- Tim Fish

Efforts to improve naval shipbuilding capacity are mixed across the Indo-Pacific region and depend largely on the naval shipbuilding programmes that are underway or planned. Some countries are developing ship programmes because of increased threats in the maritime domain, but most want to get industrial self-reliance in an area that can boost the economy, create jobs and bring in technology as well as help project status internationally.

Dr Collin Koh Swee Lean, from the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore, told AMR: “Most of the Indo-Pacific region’s modern shipyards are found in Northeast Asia, such as in China, Japan and South Korea. In Oceania, we’ve Australia. In South Asia, there’s India. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam possess the region’s most modern shipbuilding capacities.”

He added: Myanmar is one example that’s often ignored, though the growth of its naval shipbuilding capacity is geared towards meeting domestic needs. Still, in the long run, the capacity could position the country well for export prospects. And so is the case of Bangladesh, which is clearly also looking at export opportunities.

Colin said that in South East Asia the enhancement of shipyards has been minimal with perhaps the exception of Indonesia which has recently acquired the capacity to build its first submarine under DSME licence.