On the offensive in China

China will be a key country for the Rapp Group in the years ahead.

Initially there is talk of production of shipboard systems and components for fire doors and winches - equipment that has been fully designe and engineered in Norway.

The great advatage of China is the low production costs and their delivery capacity, says Sales and Market Manager Jostein Johansen at Rapp Bomek.

But there are many obstacles to negotiate before everything slots into place.

"The culture is entirely different and the language is a major challenge, " admits Rapp Bomek's MD,  Andrew Annely. We also have to be vary attentive to quality, in order to maintain our quality stamp. We cannot afford to cut cornes here.

The company has set up a shop in Qingdao, northeast of Shanghai. To date the Chinese arm of Rapp Marine counts two employees.