China shores up status as top shipbuilder with Shanghai port expansion

Already the world’s busiest shipping port, China’s financial centre Shanghai is now positioning itself as a world-class shipbuilding hub, with an eye on high-value models such as those designed to transport liquefied natural gas (LNG) and containers.

The Shanghai municipal government has unveiled plans to augment its shipyards on Changxing Island, situated across the southern mouth of the Yangtze River and near the Yangshan Deep-Water Port. The Yangshan facility, a component of the Port of Shanghai, holds sea trials for large vessels.

Hi-tech ships such as LNG carriers and dual-fuel container ships are set to make up 80 per cent of the industrial base’s output, according to a document released on Wednesday.

The cluster will reach an industrial scale of over 120 billion yuan (US$16.71 billion) within three years, the government estimated.

“[The goal is to] build a world-class hub for high-end marine equipment manufacturing, with globally leading capabilities in the development of hi-tech vessels.”

The Changxing Island cluster has been given a mandate to serve as “a global powerhouse for technological breakthroughs”, develop more than 10 types of hi-tech vessels and marine engineering equipment by 2027, and attract at least three leading international institutions to join its operations.

South China Morning Post