Booming demand for lifeboat and davit servicing in China has led leading lifeboat and davit manufacturer Schat-Harding to open a third Chinese service station, this time in Guangzhou's busy port area of Huangpu.

The new base is close to all the major repair yards in Guangzhou and ideally suited to offer faster response times for the yards and ports of Shenzhen, Hong Kong and the South China region. It opens on June 1, 2008 with four service engineers and a service administrator.

Andrew Lemmis, who heads up Schat-Harding's China Service Division says, "When we first started service in China in February 2006 we were in a small office operating from the Qingdao manufacturing plant with just four service engineers, a service co-ordinator and myself. We outgrew that office is less than a year and relocated to Shanghai. Now we have service facilities in Qingdao, Shanghai and Guangzhou with 22 service engineers and back office support from ten dedicated service staff. And we are working flat out to meet shipowner demand for properly trained and authorised service for their lifesaving equipment."

David Bradley, Executive Vice-president of Schat-Harding's service division says, "More and more responsible shipowners are finding that it makes both economic and operational sense to have their lifeboats and davits serviced by manufacturer-approved facilities. That way they comply with the IMO guidelines in MSC1206 and dramatically reduce the chances of an accident with their boats. Many major owners now have five year Fleet Service Agreements with us, and we have to play our part by building a global network to meet their needs. It is likely Schat-Harding will soon have to open a fourth service facility in north China, possibly Dalian or Tianjin, such is the demand we are experiencing in China and across Asia."

Schat-Harding's Service Division now has over 300 personnel including 165 trained and authorised service engineers working out of 17 Schat-Harding owned service stations, supported by 15 certified service partners operating in over 30 countries.

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