MODELING AND ANALYSIS OF LABOR COST ESTIMATION FOR SHIPBUILDING: THE CASE OF CHINA SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION.

Taiwan's shipbuilding industry confronts serious competition in the international market. Shipyards must acquire market information and give accurate quotations in order to obtain shipbuilding orders. The estimation of labor cost for shipbuilding is very important during the quotation stage. It is the purpose of this paper therefore to investigate the prevailing factors for labor cost and to construct models of man-hour estimation for building new ships for the China Shipbuilding Corporation. According to an empirical analysis, the effects of factors such as hull steel weight, main engine output, compensated gross tonnage, and technological progress on man-hours for construction have been confirmed. Furthermore, the comparison between the actual and estimated values for man-hours of construction shows that the derived models are highly accurate.