Further consolidation has been announced in the Japanese shipyard industry as Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (MES) and Tsuneishi Shipbuilding unveiled a business alliance on Thursday.
The idea is to better compete with Chinese and Korean rivals, the Nikkei daily said.
The two companies said they will consider jointly designing and building merchant ships, especially bulkers.
MES and Tsuneishi, based in the western city of Fukuyama, are also moving toward joint operation of the latter's cost-competitive overseas shipyards in the Philippines and China.
