On September 16, 2016, MIRDC and CSBC Corporation signed a technical cooperation letter of intent at the 2016 Kaohsiung International Maritime & Defense Exhibition. Dr. Jen-Yi Lin, MIRDC Chairman, and Mr. Wen-Lon Cheng, CSBC Corporation Chairman, represented their respective organizations during the signing. This is an important step for indigenous ship building in Taiwan.
Taiwan is surrounded by oceans and heavily relies on the seas for its livelihood, maritime development serves as a driver for related domestic industries. The government adopts “enhancing national defense capability,” “revitalization of the national defense industry,” and “driving military and civilian cooperation” as its three main national defense policies. In 2017, the government will initiate development for a 1,500 ton submarine prototype. The plan is to launch a vessel within 10 years and enter mass production. The government is advocating the technology that can be utilized by both the military and civilian sectors. Future military-grade technology can be converted to civilian use. This will not only give domestic makers steady orders and allow them to grow strong, but also give Taiwan manufacturers a technical advantage in the global market.
The CSBC Corporation, which is participating in the indigenous ship building, is proactively searching for an industrial direction. Currently, parts for shipbuilding are mostly sourced from foreign suppliers. The hope is to localize the production of parts required for ship building with two purposes, the first one is to obtain an accessible supply channel, the other is to effectively reduce purchase costs and further decrease the nation’s ship maintenance costs.
In recent years, MIRDC, in response to rapid changing domestic economic environment and considering overall industry needs, MIRDC is focused on priority industries, sets industrial target and development strategies by centering on cross-department integration and corporate planning ability to conform to industrial needs and overcome external challenges.
CSBC Corporation hopes to fully cooperate with MIRDC in building a R&D platform, which will be applied to the development and construction of surface vessels, public service vessels, and submarines. MIRDC’s technological abilities in metal secondary processing, 3D printing and casting sand mold, high-intensity arc and friction stir welding, hot stamping, metal products, process design simulation analysis, and test and certification technologies can be used to achieve the localization of parts required for shipbuilding, as well as increase production capability in southern Taiwan.
MIRDC is shouldering the responsibility of driving the nation’s overall technological development. To cultivate technology professionals for the industry, MIRDC is working with CSBC Corporation in developing technologies related to indigenous ship building and improving the technical abilities of Taiwan industries. In the future, MIRDC will continue to adopt a pragmatic attitude and is fully committed to sharing research resources, improving development capability, and break through technical bottlenecks faced by Taiwan’s industries. By combining our technical abilities, CSBC Corporation and MIRDC are working together toward mutual goals and benefits for both parties.