Namura Shipbuilding will withdraw subsidiary Sasebo Heavy Industries from commercial shipbuilding next January, in another major blow to the Japanese industry.

After completing its commercial orderbook, Sasebo will focus entirely on government-related navy work.

Osaka-listed Namura is seeking 250 voluntary redundancies and expects to incur initial losses of ¥8.2bn ($78m) related to the move.

It said there could be further losses related to staff cuts.