- China’s State-owned shipbuilders are expected to enter a high-growth period this year, driven by global markets’ soaring demand.
- The country’s shipbuilding output hit 20.85 million deadweight tons in the January-July period, accounting for 44.4 percent of the world’s total.
- China’s marine economy recovered steadily in the first half of 2022, as the country has been striving to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic .
As the demand for environmentally friendly vessels surges, it has given a boost to the Chinese marine economy. New shipbuilding orders, another major indicator in the shipbuilding industry, came in at 25.72 million deadweight tons during the period, representing 51.1 percent of global market share.
Resilience in times of uncertainty
Beijing-based China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI) has recorded growth as the world responds to the post pandemic period. Tan Naifen, deputy secretary-general of CANSI notes, “Rising freight rates and shipping demand have notably boosted both revenue and profit growth of global shipping and energy companies, such as Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC)…”
She said that many companies have accelerated the phasing out of their older ships with high fuel emissions in order to buy new, advanced vessels.
Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co Ltd, a Shanghai-based subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp Ltd (CSSC), delivered a mega-container carrier from its Changxing shipyard to MSC in Shanghai in early August. The containership has a capacity of more than 240,000 metric tons of cargo.
China’s shipbuilding holding orders rose 15.6 percent year-on-year to 103.66 million deadweight tons by the end of July. Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co Ltd, another CSSC subsidiary, began the construction of China’s second domestically built cruise.
Growth through the lens of international collaboration
CSSC signed a contract with the world’s biggest cruise operator by fleet size, Carnival Corp & Plc, based in Florida, the United States. Apart from this, a contract was also signed with Italy’s Fincantieri, Europe’s largest builder of cruise ships to build two cruise ships. Carnival has teamed up with CSSC to establish a Shanghai-based cruise joint venture called CSSC Carnival Cruise Shipping Ltd. With a long industrial chain, the development of the cruise industry in China will raise the standards for the modern service industry.
The country’s gross ocean product grew 1.2 percent year-on-year to 4.2 trillion yuan ($604.9 billion) in the first half, as per rough estimates. The future seems bright for the Chinese marine economy.
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Source: ChinaDaily
