China’s state-owned shipbuilders are expected to enter a high-growth period this year, driven by global markets’ soaring demand for high-end and environmentally friendly vessels as well as the recovery of China’s marine economy, according to experts and business leaders. China remained the world’s leading shipbuilder in the first seven months, with its market share ranking tops globally in output and in new and pending orders. The country’s shipbuilding output hit 20.85 million deadweight tons (DWT) in the January-July period, accounting for 44.4% of the world’s total, according to the Beijing-based China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI). New shipbuilding orders, another major indicator in the shipbuilding industry, came in at 25.72 million DWT during the period, representing 51.1% of global market share.
“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), Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd and QatarEnergy, formerly known as Qatar Petroleum, over the past two years,” said Tan Naifen, Deputy Secretary General of CANSI. 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 – mainly containerships, oil tankers and bulk vessels – that meet requirements of the United Nations’ international maritime organization to cut carbon emissions in the global shipping business.
“Therefore, dual-fuel engines, and engines powered by liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas, have become popular choices for global shipowners,” she said, adding that China exported USD11.77 billion in vessels of different types from January to July. Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co, a Shanghai-based subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp (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 in containers totaling 24,116 TEU, which is the largest capacity of its kind in the world. The ship’s delivery indicated that China has entered a new era in the container carrier building industry, experts said. The company will deliver another three containerships of that type in the coming months, the shipbuilder said in a statement. It is 400 meters long, more than 60 meters longer than the world’s largest aircraft carrier, and 61.5 meters wide. Its deck covers an area equivalent to nearly four standard soccer fields. China’s shipbuilding holding orders rose 15.6% year-on-year to 103.66 million DWT by the end of July, with a global market share reaching 48.1%, according to CANSI, the China Daily reports.
