Marine engineering equipment and high-tech ships: big country shipbuilding is not afraid of rough seas

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.

In the coming period, the competitive pattern of the global shipbuilding industry will be deeply adjusted, and the main force of the world shipbuilding industry will still be China, Japan and South Korea, and more mainly reflected in the field of high-tech ships and offshore engineering equipment. The European shipbuilding industry will further withdraw from the ship assembly and construction market, but in terms of design, supporting, maritime rule-making, etc., especially in the core design and key supporting fields of Marine engineering equipment, it still has advantages. Korea has proposed to turn the Marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry into a second shipbuilding industry. Singapore is committed to maintaining its competitive edge in offshore equipment. In the future, the competition between the major construction countries in the field of deepwater offshore equipment products will become more intense.

In the new industrial competition environment, the key to determining the success or failure of the competition is no longer the scale of facilities, labor costs and other factors, but technology, management and other soft power and shipbuilding, supporting the whole industry chain coordination, scientific and technological innovation ability to contribute more prominent competitiveness. Changes in competitive factors have directly led to the weakening of the original comparative advantages of China's shipbuilding industry, especially the increase in the cost of various factors such as labor and land, the RMB exchange rate is a two-way fluctuation trend, the traditional advantages of low-cost manufacturing are disappearing, and the focus of industrial development has shifted from the pursuit of speed to the pursuit of quality and efficiency. High-tech ships and Marine engineering equipment are at the high end of the value chain of the shipbuilding industry, and are the focus of the future development of China's shipbuilding industry.

The new scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation characterized by the deep integration of information technology and manufacturing industry are emerging, and the breakthrough and cross-integration of multi-field technical groups are driving profound changes in the production mode of manufacturing industry, and the digitalization, networking and intelligence of manufacturing industry have become an important trend of future technological change. The manufacturing mode has accelerated the transformation to digitalization, networking and intelligence, and flexible manufacturing and intelligent manufacturing have increasingly become an important direction for the development of the world's advanced manufacturing industry. Ship manufacturing is also developing in the direction of intelligent design, intelligent products, refined management and information integration, and the world's shipbuilding powers have put forward the goal of building smart shipyards. At the same time, the international maritime safety and environmental protection technical rules are becoming stricter, and the requirements for ship energy conservation and environmental protection safety technologies such as ship emissions, hull biological pollution, and safety risk prevention continue to improve, and the pace of technological upgrading of ships and supporting products will be further accelerated.

Ideas and key points

Since the beginning of the new century, China's Marine engineering equipment and shipbuilding industry has made great progress: Since 2010, China's shipbuilding three indicators have remained the world's first for five consecutive years; In 2014, the number and total amount of new orders for offshore oil and gas engineering equipment in China ranked first in the world; Certain progress has been made in Marine renewable resources development equipment, seawater desalination and comprehensive utilization, ocean observation, Marine biological development and other equipment.

In 2015, the "Made in China 2025" clearly stated that the field of ocean engineering equipment and high-tech ships will vigorously develop deep-sea exploration, resource development and utilization, offshore operation support equipment and its key systems and special equipment. Promote the development and engineering of deep-sea space stations and large floating structures. The ability to comprehensively test, test and appraise Marine engineering equipment will be formed, and the level of Marine development and utilization will be improved. We will break through the design and construction technology of luxury cruise ships, comprehensively enhance the international competitiveness of high-tech ships such as liquefied natural gas, and master the integrated, intelligent and modular design and construction technology of key supporting equipment.

In the next 10 years, China's shipbuilding industry should closely focus on the strategy of maritime power and the grand goal of building a world shipbuilding power, give full play to the role of market mechanisms, comply with the new trend of world shipbuilding competition and shipbuilding technology development, strengthen innovation drive, and take structural adjustment, transformation and upgrading as the main line. The main direction is to make Marine engineering equipment and high-tech ship products and their supporting equipment independent and branded, and to promote digital, networked and intelligent manufacturing as a breakthrough, and constantly improve the level, quality and efficiency of industrial development. Strive to become the world's leading country in Marine engineering equipment and high-tech ships by 2025, and realize the qualitative leap from large to strong shipbuilding industry.

In the future, with the opening of polar shipping routes, the demand for the development of polar and deep sea resources continues to increase, emerging industries such as Marine food, Marine new energy, and Marine mining continue to become new areas of the economy, maritime safety and environmental protection requirements are becoming increasingly strict, and the situation of safeguarding maritime rights and interests is becoming increasingly urgent, and the demand for Marine engineering equipment and high-tech ships will further expand. It is estimated that by 2025, the world's ocean engineering equipment and high-tech ship market demand will increase to 260 billion US dollars.

By 2025, China should become a powerful country in Marine engineering equipment and high-tech ship manufacturing with certain influence, and form a sound industrial system and standard specification system for Marine engineering equipment and high-tech ship design, final assembly and construction, equipment supply, and technical service. With more than 5 internationally renowned manufacturing enterprises, some areas of design and manufacturing technology is internationally leading; The international market share of major offshore engineering equipment and high-tech ships independently developed, designed and built has reached 40% and 50% respectively; The independent allocation rate of key systems and equipment reached 50% and 80% respectively; Fully realize the capability of independent supporting surface core equipment, 1,500-meter underwater production system and special system for Marine equipment, and break through key technologies such as design, manufacturing, testing and installation of underwater production systems in 3,000 meters of water depth; It has the ability to develop Marine mineral resources, natural gas hydrate and other mining equipment, Marine renewable resources development equipment such as wave energy/tidal energy, and new Marine resources development equipment such as seawater and fresh water, and carry out pilot application of some devices; A digital, networked, intelligent and green design and manufacturing system has been fully established.

Key products include Marine space integrated stereoscopic observation system, offshore oil and gas resources development equipment, Marine mineral resources development equipment, Marine renewable energy development equipment, offshore island utilization and security equipment, far-reaching sea exploration and inspection equipment, far-reaching sea fishery aquaculture/Marine food and Marine medicine equipment, super ecological and environmental protection vessels, polar transport vessels, ocean fishing vessels , high-performance law enforcement operation ships, large luxury cruise ships, large LNG fuel powered ships, Marine large low-speed engines, etc.

Key parts include underwater production control system, underwater oil and gas production system engineering technology and key equipment, underwater special operation equipment and equipment, deep-sea anchoring and dynamic positioning control system, high-efficiency, low-emission high-power low-speed engine key parts, ship intelligent monitoring system, Marine LNG and other gas fuel supply system key parts, reduce hull friction resistance coatings, Low temperature materials and cold equipment.

The key common technologies include new materials and lightweight design technology of hull structure, high-performance energy and energy storage technology, far-reaching sea information transmission technology, underwater installation technology, safety and reliability technology, numerical pool (Marine equipment hydrodynamics numerical simulation intelligent system) technology, Marine engineering equipment sea test technology, ship optimization and energy saving technology, Marine propulsion device design technology, can Renewable/clean energy utilization technology, vibration and noise reduction and comfort technology, ship intelligent design and manufacturing technology.

Application demonstration projects include 300-ton underwater large-scale manned carrying equipment application demonstration, large floating base at sea (logistics support, rights protection, fisheries far-reaching aquaculture or tourism) demonstration, super ecological and environmental protection ship application demonstration, efficient oil/gas field domestic equipment application demonstration.

High-end, intelligent, green

The shipbuilding industry is a comprehensive industry that provides technology and equipment for the shipping industry, Marine development and national defense construction, and plays a strong driving role in the development and export expansion of key industries such as steel, petrochemical, light industry, textile, equipment manufacturing, and electronic information. Since 2003, China's shipbuilding industry has entered the track of rapid development. The scale of the industry continues to expand, shipbuilding output is growing rapidly, shipbuilding completion, new orders, hand-held orders have been in the forefront of the world for many years. The company's comprehensive strength has been steadily improved, and it has the ability to independently develop bulk carriers, oil tankers and container ships (the three major ship types), and has also achieved breakthroughs in the field of high-tech and high value-added ships and Marine engineering equipment. The shipbuilding cycle and quality management of large ship enterprises have reached the international advanced level.

As early as September 2006, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense jointly issued the Medium and Long-term Development Plan for the Shipbuilding Industry (2006-2015). "Plan" clearly, China's foreign trade rapid growth, for the shipbuilding industry to provide a good opportunity for development, China's shipbuilding industry is expected to become one of the most internationally competitive industries, to seize the 2006-2015 10 years of critical period, timely to undertake foreign industrial transfer, improve market competitiveness, Strive to make our country become the world's most important shipbuilding country and power by 2015.

However, since the second half of 2008, affected by the international financial crisis, the international shipping market has declined sharply, the shipbuilding market has been greatly impacted, the new ship orders have been significantly reduced, the financing difficulties of enterprises, and the risk of performing the contract delivery has increased, and the development of China's shipbuilding industry is facing a grim situation. In this regard, in 2009, The General Office of the State Council issued the "Rules for the Implementation of the Plan for the Adjustment and Revitalization of the Shipbuilding Industry", which adopted active credit measures to stabilize shipbuilding orders, defuse operational risks, and ensure the steady and rapid development of the shipbuilding industry. By controlling the new shipbuilding capacity, promote the adjustment of industrial structure, improve the comprehensive strength of large shipbuilding enterprises, and form new competitive advantages; By accelerating independent innovation, developing high-tech and high value-added vessels, developing Marine engineering equipment, and cultivating new economic growth points, we will lay a solid foundation for building a strong shipbuilding country and implementing the Marine strategy.

In 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments jointly issued the Action Plan for Deepening Structural Adjustment and Accelerating Transformation and Upgrading of the Shipbuilding Industry (2016-2020), in response to the continued downturn in the demand of the international mainstream ship market at that time, the sharp contraction of the market for high-tech ships and Marine engineering equipment, and the overall plight of the world shipbuilding industry. China's shipbuilding industry is facing the most severe challenge since the financial crisis, and at the same time to meet the historic opportunity of overtaking on the curve.

The plan proposes that by 2020, China should build a shipbuilding industry system with strong scale, strong innovation capacity, good quality and efficiency, and optimized structure, and strive to enter the ranks of the world's shipbuilding power and advanced countries in Marine engineering equipment manufacturing. The shipbuilding completed by the top 10 shipbuilding enterprises accounted for more than 70% of the country's total, forming a group of world-class advanced shipbuilding and Marine engineering equipment manufacturing enterprises with strong core competitiveness. The supporting capacity has been significantly enhanced. The average loading rate of the three major ship types, bulk carriers, oil tankers and container ships, high-tech ships and localized offshore engineering equipment have reached 80%, 60% and 40% respectively, making China a major Marine equipment manufacturer in the world. Backbone ships, offshore equipment and supporting enterprises have basically established a global research and development, marketing and service system.

In November 2017, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission and other eight departments issued the "Action Plan for the Sustainable and Healthy Development of Marine Engineering Equipment Manufacturing Industry (2017-2020)", actively responding to the continued downturn in the demand for Marine engineering equipment market at that time, the global Marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry suffered a severe impact, and new orders shrank significantly. The severe situation of large-scale delay or withdrawal of products already built and under construction. The plan to promote the supply-side structural reform as the main line, with innovation as the driving force, accelerate structural adjustment, inventory reduction, shortcomings, brand creation, constantly optimize the industrial development model, cultivate new economic growth points, enhance international competitiveness, and promote the sustainable and healthy development of China's Marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry.

In December 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the Implementation Plan for the Industrialization of Key Technologies for High-end Ships and Marine Engineering Equipment, aiming to promote the transformation and upgrading of China's shipbuilding industry, improve the technical level and core competitiveness, and consolidate and enhance international competitive advantages. The "Implementation Plan" proposes that the independent design, system integration and general contracting capabilities of China's high-tech ships and special ships will be further improved, a number of ships and Marine engineering equipment products will fill the domestic gaps, the structure of Marine resources development equipment will be significantly upgraded, the loading rate of key supporting equipment will continue to increase, research and development design, testing and testing facilities will be more perfect, and the core competitiveness of the industry will be significantly enhanced. Major progress has been made in the design and construction of large cruise ships, with the delivery of the first 22,000 container ships, the promotion and application of public law enforcement ships, krill fishing vessels, and far-reaching offshore fisheries and aquaculture platforms. The industrial capabilities of high-strength mooring chains, high-power lasers, and subsea pipeline inspection systems have been significantly enhanced, and virtual reality design and testing platforms have been put into use.

In December 2018, China's shipbuilding industry is still in the initial stage of digital manufacturing, there are many problems that need to be solved, such as serious shortage of three-dimensional digital process design capability, key process links are still dominated by mechanization and semi-automated equipment, and the ship market continues to be depressed, labor costs are rising rapidly, and it is difficult to recruit workers for bitter, dirty and dangerous operations. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of National Defense Science and Industry issued the Action Plan for Promoting the Intelligent Transformation of Ship Assembly and Construction (2019-2021).

The "Action Plan" proposed that after three years of efforts, the ship intelligent manufacturing technology innovation system and standard system should be initially established, the labor intensity of dirty and difficult operations such as cutting, forming, welding and painting should be greatly reduced, the number of operators should be significantly reduced, and the management and information integration level of shipbuilding enterprises should be significantly improved. 2-3 benchmarking enterprises have taken the lead in building a number of intelligent units, intelligent production lines and intelligent workshops with international advanced levels, and the key enterprises have basically realized digital shipbuilding, reducing the man-hour consumption per revised gross ton by more than 20%, reducing the comprehensive energy consumption per revised gross ton by 10%, and reaching the international advanced level of construction quality and efficiency, laying a solid foundation for the construction of smart shipyards.

In September 2022, five departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission, jointly issued the Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Green and Intelligent Development of Inland waterway Vessels. According to the Opinions, by 2025, breakthroughs will be made in key green power technologies such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), batteries, methanol and hydrogen fuel, the level of intelligent technology of ship equipment will be significantly improved, and a green intelligent standard and regulation system for inland waterway ships will be basically formed. Cultivate a number of influential green and intelligent inland waterway ship design, construction, supporting and operation enterprises, create a number of standardized and serialized ship types that meet the needs of different scenarios, realize demonstration applications in representative areas such as the Yangtze River, Xijiang River, Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and Minjiang River, form replicable and popularizable experience, and initially build a benign and sustainable industrial ecology. The green, intelligent and standardized development of inland vessels has achieved remarkable results, and a relatively complete industrial chain and supply chain has been established.

The Opinions make it clear that major regional strategies such as the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area should be thoroughly implemented, and that places such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Shandong, Hubei, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hebei's Xiongan New Area should be encouraged to take the lead, gather all kinds of social resources, and expand the increase of green smart ships. We will optimize the stock of traditional oil-powered vessels, strengthen the supervision of the operation of new and clean energy inland vessels, improve the overall quality level and energy efficiency level of inland vessels, significantly reduce pollution emissions from inland vessels, and form a new model for the operation and development of green and intelligent inland vessels that can be replicated, promoted and sustainable.

At present, China's shipbuilding industry continues to deepen structural adjustment and transformation and upgrading, accelerate reform and innovative development, and establish a complete industrial system integrating research and development, design, construction, supporting and service, which has strongly supported the rapid development of international shipping, foreign trade and Marine economy, and has become an important subject of the global shipbuilding and Marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry.

A large number of China-made new-generation ships, such as Shandong, Nanchang, Hainan, and Long March 18, have been commissioned and raced across the open ocean. The People's Navy's modern equipment system, led by fourth-generation equipment and dominated by third-generation equipment, is taking shape, providing strong equipment support for the People's Navy to advance into the "Deep Blue". A 10,000-meter manned deep-sea submersible, a polar ice-breaking research vessel, an ultra-deep water semi-submersible drilling platform, an LNG vessel, and a very large container ship have been completed and delivered. The project to build China's first large cruise ship is progressing smoothly, the construction of the second large cruise ship has begun, and mainstream ships and Marine engineering equipment independently designed and built have reached the world's advanced level.

In 2022, the international market share of China's shipbuilding completions, new orders and hand-held orders will remain the first in the world, and the international market share of China's shipbuilding industry will rank first in the world for 13 consecutive years. From January to June this year, China's shipbuilding completions, new orders, and hand-held orders accounted for 49.6%, 72.6% and 53.2% of the world's total deadweight tons, respectively, ranking first in the world. Key industrial clusters have emerged in the international competition, initially forming the spatial layout of the three major shipbuilding bases in the Yangtze River Delta, Bohai Sea Rim and Pearl River Delta, and emerging a number of large enterprises and specialized supporting enterprises with strong international competitiveness.

In the next step, China will implement the development plan for the shipbuilding industry, focus on the "14th Five-Year Plan" development goals and key tasks, promote the implementation of major projects and key projects, further consolidate advantages, complement weak items, give classified policies, adhere to the direction of intelligent green and high-quality development, break through the bottleneck constraints, enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises, and accelerate the development of shipbuilding from a big country to a strong shipbuilding country.