China's shipbuilding industry leads the world

　　China leads the world in shipbuilding, according to the latest statistics released on the official Web site of the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry.

　　In the first half of 2010, China's shipbuilding capacity, the number of new orders and the volume of backlog orders accounted for about 41 percent, 46 percent and 38 percent of the world market, respectively.

　　The accomplishments of China's shipbuilding industry has drawn worldwide attention

　　In the first half of 2010, China's shipbuilding enterprises completed and exported 24.3 million deadweight tons, accounting for 82 percent of the total shipbuilding capacity, and the volume of new overseas orders reached about 16.4 million deadweight tons, accounting for 69 percent of the total volume of new orders.

　　By the end of June, the volume of holding ships for export had reached 160.3 million deadweight tons, accounting for 87 percent of the total volume of holding ships. The shipbuilding enterprises above designated size have accomplished a total export delivery value of 139.6 billion yuan, up by nearly 18 percent compared to the same period last year.

　　"China has witnessed remarkable achievements in the shipbuilding industry in recent years. The shipbuilding industry has become one of the industries with world-class competitiveness in China and an important window for countries worldwide to understand the level of China's industrial development," said Zhang Changtao, chief researcher of the Economic Research Center of China Shipbuilding.

　　The analysis report of the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry reveals that in the first half of 2010, China's shipbuilding industry has maintained rapid development by overcoming difficulties resulting from the global financial crisis, such as obtaining orders and delivering ships.

　　Shipbuilding capacity and the volume of new orders have risen remarkably, the major economic indicators have maintained double-digit growth and the overall economy has performed well.

　　China's shipbuilding industrial output value, ship exports and enterprise profits kept rising in the first half of 2010. According to the statistics from the Economic Operation Department of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, in the first half of 2010, among the shipbuilding, facilities, ship repair and non-vessel business segments of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, the share of shipbuilding and facilities have both risen, and the shipbuilding output value accounts for nearly 82 percent of the industrial output value, up by nearly 4 percent compared to the same period of last year.

　　China's shipbuilding industry enjoys distinctly favorable conditions

　　The effective market demand is of critical importance to the development of the shipbuilding industry. Zhang Xiangmu, director of the Equipment Industry Division of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that as China's imports and exports both grow continually, domestic ship owners are in urgent need to increase transportation capacity and optimize fleet structure, which has thus provided the domestic shipbuilding industry with enormous room for growth.

　　Another important reason for the rapid progress and great achievements of the domestic shipbuilding industry is that the central government has introduced many effective policies aimed at guiding the industry's development. China has fully mastered the technologies required for constructing oil tankers, bulk carriers and container ships, and now owns a series of standardized ship brands.

　　China has independently developed a series of ships such as the eco-friendly bulk carrier with a displacement of 175,000 tons and new-generation ships that meet international standards. In addition, the country, which is now capable of independently designing and building large container ships, has started the mass production of these ships and has put them on the market.

　　Trying to shift from "big" to "strong"

　　Zhang Changtao said that although China's shipbuilding industry has achieved remarkable success in the past two years, it is still faced with many limiting factors such as weak independent research and development capacity, high dependency on imports of shipboard equipment, low production efficiency and defective industrial structure.

　　China's shipbuilding industry is in a crucial period of transition from a "big" industry to a "strong" industry. Zhang Xiangmu believes that due to the changes in the international ship market, China's shipbuilding industry, which will be at the key stage of structural adjustments in the next few years, should give top priority to the improvement of product quality to achieve the strategic goal of becoming bigger and stronger.

　　Zhang Guangqin, director of the China National Shipbuilding Industry Association, said that the top priority in fostering the development of China's shipbuilding industry and enhancing its international competitiveness is to promote industrial restructuring. Facing fierce competition, the industry must optimize the allocation of resources and keep innovating in order to achieve better development.

　　In addition, competitive shipbuilders that are mutually complementary should be encouraged to merge with each other, so they can make better use of the economy of scale in many aspects such as research and development as well as marketing. Meanwhile, medium-sized shipbuilders should be encouraged to pay special attention to their specialties and perfect the quality of their products.

　　China should attach great importance to the new international maritime rules and try to develop low-carbon ships in order to increase its global influence.