China builds ships and sails far away

Core reading

In 2022, the country's shipbuilding completions, new orders and hand-held orders will be 37.86 million DWT, 45.52 million DWT and 105.57 million DWT, respectively, accounting for 47.3%, 55.2% and 49% of the world's total, and the international market share of all indicators will remain the world's first.

Shipbuilding is an important cornerstone of maritime power. At present, the international market share of China's shipbuilding industry has ranked first in the world for 13 consecutive years, with excellent technology, outstanding strength, strong development momentum, showing vigorous vitality.

The length is 399.99 meters, the width of the type is 61.3 meters, the load capacity is 228,000 tons, the deck area is equivalent to 3.5 standard football fields, and the height of the ordinary 22-story house can be reached when fully loaded. A few days ago, the 24188 TEU container ship built by Nantong COSCO Shipping Kawasaki Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. went on trial, and China's super large container ship once again welcomed a new breakthrough.

Ship delivery news is frequent, follow-up orders are continuous, and industrial upgrading is steadily moving forward. In recent years, China's shipbuilding industry has continued to consolidate the competitiveness of the whole industrial chain and continuously enhance its international market position. The "Analysis of the Economic operation of the shipbuilding Industry in 2022" released by the China Shipbuilding Industry Association recently shows that by 2022, China's shipbuilding industry's international market share has ranked first in the world for 13 consecutive years.

Outstanding strength, leading the international market

"Last year, we set a record for the largest single LNG (liquefied natural gas) carrier order in China's shipbuilding history, and we currently have an order book of nearly 50 ships, with production scheduled until 2028." Liu Ying, deputy secretary of the Discipline Inspection Committee of Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding Company of China Shipbuilding Group, happily told reporters.

Since the construction and delivery of the first domestically produced large LNG carrier "Dapeng Hao" in 2008, Hudong Zhonghua's technology to build this type of ship has continued to improve. "From following to running and then leading, the construction process has been updated to the fifth generation, and the efficiency can be comparable to the international advanced ship enterprises." Liu Ying said.

Excellent technology and outstanding strength can win the favor of the market. In 2022, seize the opportunity of the rising demand of the global large LNG carrier market, and Chinese shipping enterprises will actively act and take the initiative.

In China State Shipbuilding Group, in addition to the "leading" Hudong Zhonghua, Jiangnan Shipbuilding and Dalian Shipbuilding Industry also successfully completed the first LNG ship order last year, and the group signed a total of 49 large LNG carrier orders in 2022, with a contract value of more than 10 billion US dollars. Global market share of total order volume jumped from less than 7% in 2021 to nearly 30% in 2022.

Not only in the LNG carrier market, in 2022, the majority of shipbuilding enterprises in China will seize the opportunity and actively act to hand over a bright report card

International market share continues to lead. In 2022, the country's shipbuilding completions, new orders and hand-held orders will be 37.86 million DWT, 45.52 million DWT and 105.57 million DWT, accounting for 47.3%, 55.2% and 49% of the world's total, respectively, an increase of 0.1, 1.4 and 1.4 percentage points over 2021.

The value of ship exports kept growing. From January to November 2022, China's ship exports amounted to 23.85 billion US dollars, an increase of 7.9%. Among the export ship products, bulk carriers, oil tankers and container ships still dominated, with a total export value of 12.38 billion US dollars, accounting for 51.9 percent of the total export value.

The main business income and profit of shipping enterprises increased. Through strengthening the plan management of shipbuilding nodes, implementing intelligent transformation of production lines, strengthening cost management and other ways, shipping enterprises vigorously promote cost reduction and efficiency. From January to November 2022, 1,093 shipbuilding industry enterprises above designated size nationwide achieved the main business income of 457.29 billion yuan, an increase of 8%, and the total profit of 13.65 billion yuan, an increase of 70%.

The quality of new ship orders continues to improve. In 2022, China's shipping enterprises will consolidate their leading position in the market of advantageous ship types and consolidate the foundation of new ship orders. Among the 18 major ship types in the world, 12 new orders of China's ship types rank first in the world. Among them, orders for new bulk carriers, container ships, car carriers and crude oil carriers accounted for 74.3%, 56.8%, 88.7% and 66.1% of the global total, respectively.

"In 2022, China's shipbuilding capacity utilization monitoring index is 764 points, an increase of 22 points compared with 2021, reaching the highest point in nearly 10 years." China Shipbuilding Industry Association secretary General Li Yanqing said.

Innovation-driven, future prospects are promising

Put on the 3D glasses, you can be there. In the digital exhibition hall of Jiangnan Shipbuilding Company of China Shipbuilding Group, the reporter "walked into" a highly simulated "digital ship" and had a panoramic view of the situation inside the cabin.

"With the 'virtual and real' experience, designers can conduct a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the performance and process of the entire ship." Whether the location of each component is suitable, whether it is convenient for later maintenance, and whether the temperature, sound, light and air flow of each cabin are comfortable and pleasant can be checked in advance at the design stage." Jiangnan shipbuilding deputy general manager Lin Qingshan said.

In recent years, with the in-depth promotion of digital transformation, the design cycle of Jiangnan Shipbuilding has been significantly shortened, and the construction efficiency has been greatly improved. According to Lin Qingshan, in the past, it took 28 months on average to build a large 20,000-box container ship, but now it takes only 16 months.

Since last year, shipping enterprises have firmly grasped the "bull nose" of innovation and promoted the industrial level to a new level

New breakthroughs were made in high-end equipment. In 2022, 24,000 TEU container ships, 174,000 cubic meters of large LNG carriers and other high-end ship types will be delivered in batches. Marine engineering equipment such as the 100,000-ton smart fishery large-scale aquaculture ship and the fourth-generation jack-up wind power installation ship were delivered.

Green powered ships are growing rapidly. In the whole of last year, the proportion of green powered ships in the new orders received by Chinese shipping enterprises reached 49.1%, reaching the highest level in history.

The application of domestic supporting products is accelerating. Li Yanqing made a specific introduction to reporters: "On the one hand, the loading rate of domestic Marine main engine, Marine boiler, Marine crane, Marine gas supply system and other supporting equipment continues to increase. On the other hand, Marine high-end steel development capacity continues to increase, large container ship crack plates to achieve domestic replacement, chemical Marine duplex stainless steel localization rate increased from less than 50% to more than 90%."

Demand is booming, orders are sufficient, and production is busy. At present, many shipping companies are running at full speed and stepping up construction.

Jiangnan Shipbuilding opened a new construction model of "double docking and double lines" in February this year. On the limited berth resources, adding new product lines and coordinating the node cycle of multi-type ships will effectively improve the rhythm of ship construction. This year, Jiangnan Shipbuilding plans to complete six batches of 20 ships out of dock, the number of ships out of dock more than double last year.

Hudong is pushing ahead with plans to double the capacity of LNG carriers. At present, the shipyard, workshop and supporting facilities of the second phase of Changxing Shipbuilding Base have been in prototype, which is planned to be completed and put into operation this year and next year.

Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding will usher in the first year of complete delivery of the three types of products, cruise ship, civil ship and Marine engineering. "It is expected that 23 ships will be delivered in the whole year, and the output value will increase by 40% year-on-year." Waigaoqiao shipbuilding general manager Chen Gang said.

We will strengthen weak links and speed up industrial upgrading

The Waigaoqiao shipyard in Shanghai's Pudong district is bustling with large ships under construction just after the Lunar New Year holiday. Among them, the most eye-catching is undoubtedly the first domestic cruise ship with a total length of 323.6 meters and a height of about 24 stories.

Large cruise is the only high value-added ship type that has not been conquered in China. Since the launch of the first large-scale cruise ship in October 2019, Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding has conquered key design technologies such as cruise weight control and safe return to port through the introduction of digestion and independent innovation.

All kinds of pipeline laying, equipment system debugging, interior decoration speed up the progress, at present, the first domestic cruise ship is in full gear to step up construction. By the middle of February this year, the project progress has reached 87%, the entire ship is expected to be out of dock in the middle of this year, the end of the named delivery.

"In the next few years, China's shipping enterprises will usher in the peak of shipping. 2023 to 2024 is the centralized delivery period of large container ships, and 44 large container ships of 15,000 TEU and above are scheduled to be delivered. From 2025 to 2026, the delivery period of large LNG carriers is concentrated, and many companies are constructing large LNG carriers for the first time." Li Yanqing suggested that shipping enterprises comprehensively strengthen production planning and material supporting management, adhere to quality first and safety first, and ensure that ships with orders are delivered on time.

Industry experts also put forward some suggestions for the direction of the next efforts of the shipping industry.

On the one hand, we should improve the quality and efficiency, grasp the rhythm, and improve the quality of orders.

"In the past two years, the global new shipbuilding market has remained active, and the market demand for different ship types has shown wheel movement development, and the price of new ships such as large container ships, car carriers and large LNG carriers has increased significantly, and the price difference of the same type of ships has reached tens of millions of dollars in a year." Li Yanqing said.

In view of the current situation, Li Yanqing suggested that shipping enterprises should strengthen the dynamic tracking of the development of the international shipping and shipbuilding market, avoid blindly following the trend, combine their own holding of ship orders and ship location arrangements, and optimize business strategies, grasp the rhythm of receiving orders, and further improve the quality of new orders under the premise of ensuring the continuity of production.

On the other hand, we should explore innovation and resolve the contradiction of insufficient human resources.

"At present, the contradiction between the rapid growth of China's ship production and the shortage of labor supply is becoming increasingly prominent, which has become an important factor restricting the high-quality development of the industry." Li Yanqing suggested that the relevant government departments increase the policy support for the recruitment of employees and professional job training of shipping enterprises, and shipping enterprises should also explore the reform of the employment mode, maintain the stability of the staff and improve the technical level by improving the treatment of workers and improving the working environment.

"In addition, smart manufacturing can be steadily promoted according to the existing foundation and conditions, improve production efficiency and alleviate the problem of labor shortage." Li Yanqing said.

"In 2023, the downward pressure on the world economy will continue to increase, and the global shipping and new shipbuilding markets will have reasonable fluctuations, but the demand for new ships will not shrink significantly, and shipping companies will maintain sufficient orders." Li Yanqing believes that the current scale of China's shipbuilding industry is growing and its international status is steadily improving. "We should strengthen confidence, continue efforts, strengthen scientific and technological innovation, and firmly promote the construction of a strong shipbuilding country."