Great countries build ships without fear of rough seas

Marine engineering equipment is the general term of all kinds of equipment used in the development, utilization and protection of the ocean, and is the premise and foundation of the development of Marine economy. High-tech ships have the characteristics of high technical complexity and high value, which is an important direction to promote the transformation and upgrading of China's shipbuilding industry.

Marine engineering equipment and high-tech ships are at the core of the Marine equipment industry chain, and promoting the development of Marine engineering equipment and high-tech ships is an inevitable requirement to promote the restructuring and upgrading of China's shipbuilding industry and accelerate the construction of China's shipbuilding power in the world. It is of great significance to safeguard national maritime rights and interests, accelerate Marine development, ensure strategic transportation safety, promote sustained growth of national economy, and increase labor employment.

Since the international financial crisis in 2008, China's shipbuilding industry has resisted the continuous deep adjustment of the market and the cyclical crisis of the industry, and achieved structural clearance of production capacity and high-end upgrading of product structure. Since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China's shipbuilding industry has closely focused on the main line of high quality, initially established green and intelligent production methods and product systems, consolidated the comprehensive advantages of China's shipbuilding industry in international industrial competition, and entered a new round of rapid development stage, ushering in a new historic development opportunity.

The situation facing

Marine engineering equipment and high-tech ships are the main carriers and means for human beings to develop, utilize and protect Marine mineral resources, Marine renewable energy, Marine chemical resources, Marine biological resources and Marine space resources as well as Marine transportation activities. Marine engineering equipment and high-tech shipbuilding industry is an important part of China's strategic emerging industries, and is a leading industry in the development of Marine economy.

The shipbuilding industry is a very cyclical industry. Throughout the development of the international shipping market, there is a large cyclical fluctuation at an interval of about 30 years, during which short - and medium-term fluctuations occur every 3-5 years. Of course, the length of the cycle will also be prolonged or shortened by multiple factors such as excessive prosperity or depression in the world economy, dramatic changes in international maritime rules, and large-scale wars. The destruction of ship assets in World War II led to a new shipbuilding market cycle of less than 15 years, and the International Maritime Organization (I-MO) adopted in 2003 the single-hull tanker phase-out convention and China's rapid economic development combined to extend the cycle of the last round of new shipbuilding market to more than 30 years.

In 2008, the international shipping market entered a new round of adjustment. In 2015, the global shipping capacity was close to 1.7 billion deadweight tons, and the contradiction between total capacity and structural excess was relatively serious. At the same time, the demand structure had obvious changes, and the demand for conventional ship types such as bulk carriers was weak, while the demand for Marine engineering equipment and high-tech ships was relatively strong. Energy-saving and environmentally friendly new bulk carriers, container ships, and oil tankers have become the main market demand, liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessels are in strong demand, car carriers, luxury cruise liners, and ocean-going fishing vessels demand growth is relatively obvious, and technologically complex ship types have brought more market growth.

At present, the adjustment of the shipbuilding industry has come to an end, and the market recovery is in sight. From 2012 to 2016, the capacity adjustment of the shipbuilding industry was mainly based on shutdown, bankruptcy and liquidation, and gradually spread from small and medium-sized enterprises to large shipbuilding enterprises; From 2016 to 2020, the adjustment of the shipbuilding industry will shift to the merger and reorganization of large and medium-sized enterprises, including the acquisition of high-quality shipyard assets by advantageous enterprises and the merger and reorganization of large enterprise groups. After two rounds of capacity adjustment, the number of active individual shipyards with orders or delivery records of ships over 10,000 tons in the world decreased from 440 to about 180 in 2016, and remained basically stable; In 2020, affected by the epidemic and the market correction, the number of shipyards receiving orders or delivering ships fell to about 150. In the past three years, although the operation of shipbuilding enterprises is still difficult, the economic operation of major shipbuilding enterprises in China, Japan and South Korea is generally stable, and the production capacity clearance process has basically ended. At present, the global shipbuilding capacity has stabilized at about 120 million deadweight tons, the annual completion of about 90 million tons, and the capacity utilization rate has reached 75%, which is at the normal level of industrial development.