News Analysis
China is once again consolidating its state-run shipbuilding industry—this time by folding together two giants that had already been merged once before: China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) and China Shipbuilding Industry Company (CSIC).
The move signals Beijing’s determination to retain dominance at sea, said experts, but it also exposes the mounting pressures threatening that position, from the Trump administration’s trade policy to corruption scandals and weakening global demand.
Earlier this month, CSSC began absorbing its counterpart, CSIC, in a stock swap that will see the latter delisted from the Shanghai Stock Exchange. According to the Chinese state-controlled news outlet 21st Century Business Herald, the merger will create the world’s largest shipbuilding enterprise, with a backlog exceeding 54 million tons worth of orders—about 15 percent of the global total….
China’s Shipbuilding Merger Masks Cracks Beneath the Surface
