As a result of the still ongoing concentration on shipbuilding activities in the Far East region and especially China’s position as the number one shipbuilding nation, Rockwool Marine & Offshore increases focus by establishing a sales office in Shanghai centre.
The Rockwool Group, the world’s largest producer of stone wool insulation, has for many years been active in the region including China, mainly within marine and building segment. So far the marine activities have been coordinated from the Hong Kong based sales office. The new Shanghai sales office gives the opportunity to get closer to the customers providing improved service and support.
In the Shanghai office, Rockwool Marine & Offshore is located in the same office as the Group’s activities with Lapinus fibres. The marine and offshore activities are lead by sales manager Catharina Heliang, who has a wide background in the marine business, is educated as a Bachelor in Industrial Automation and holds a Master Degree in Supply Chain Management and Business. 33-year-old Catharina has ten years’ experience in sales and procurement, of which six years are in the marine segment. The Rockwool Group’s activities within general buildings in China are run from another office also located in Shanghai.
We notice a tendency in the market for more and more high-end quality products and services as the focus on fire safety, improved sound reduction and comfort, technical support, the right documentation and certificates is getting more and more important. These requirements are often influenced by international owners, typical European, having their ships and platform built in China as being the biggest player in the market. We see this trend mainly in specialised ships, like passenger ferries, as well as within the offshore segment. For the big market of commercial ships it is still difficult to introduce high quality.
Besides the new office in Shanghai, Rockwool still has a sales office in Hong Kong responsible for the marine sales and offers in the rest of the region. This office has recently been merged with the Rockwool Group office from the recent acquisition of the CSR stone wool division. This merger will add more resources for the marine and offshore in the Far East region. The marine and offshore activities in the rest of the Far East region are lead by sales manager Tony Leung, located in the Hong Kong office.
As part of the acquisition of CSR, the Rockwool Group has taken over three stone wool production facilities in the Far East. Now the Rockwool Group has a total of four production places in the Far East; one in China, one in Thailand and two in Malaysia. This new set-up will improve the Group’s activities in the region and also increases the possibilities for more local production in the future.