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.
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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.”
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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.