Shipbuilders to enter new era of high growth

BEIJING: 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, experts and business leaders say.

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 tonnes in the January to July period, accounting for 44.4% of the world’s total, according to Beijing-based China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI). Deadweight is often used to specify a ship’s maximum permissible weight.

New shipbuilding orders, another major indicator in the shipbuilding industry, came in at 25.72 million deadweight tonnes 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 organisation 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 US$11.77bil (RM53bil) in vessels of different types from January to July.

Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co Ltd, a Shanghai-based subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp Ltd (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 tonnes of cargo in 24,116 20-ft equivalent containers at one time, 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. — China Daily/ANN