MAN Diesel & Turbo renewed its contract with Chinese two-stroke licensee, China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. (CSIC). The agreement runs for the next 10 years and covers the production of low-speed engines at CSIC affiliates: Dalian Marine Diesel (DMD), Yichang Marine Diesel Engine Company (YMD), Qingdao Haixi Marine Diesel (QMD).

The OEM's head of two-stroke licensing Klaus Engberg stressed the importance of CSIC as a partner: "We have had a license agreement with them since 1980, a collaboration that was furthered just last year with the addition of QMD, which has already successfully landed orders for MAN Diesel & Turbo engines and whose state-of-the-art facility positions them well for future success. We are delighted to have won CSIC's signature for a further 10 years, and look forward to making further inroads on the northern China market."

The licence renewal - and pageantry associated with the signing - could not be better timed, taking place within weeks of rival Wärtsilä receiving regulatory approval to proceed in a joint venture with China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) to shift two-stroke production to the country, which some industry analysts suggested might threaten MAN's established position.

The engine builder's chief-exec Dr. Uwe Lauber said: "We are very pleased to prolong this deep-rooted partnership in the world's most important shipbuilding country today." The Chinese delegation was headed by CSIC's VP Dong Qiang flanked by the respective presidents from its engine-building affiliates.