According to the 2012 annual report revealed on January 25 by CANSI (China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry), Chinese shipbuilding industry confronted various limitations for improvement affected by a number of factors, such as the global economic slowdown, the slump in shipping demands, the overcapacity of shipping fleet and excessive shipbuilding capacity.
The report said that Chinese shipping industry pushed itself ahead on building the special ships in 2012 and the restructuring obtained some good results.
Especially, the China's two top state-owned shipbuilders played the role as the driving force behind Chinese shipbuilding industry. The special ships accounted for 55.2% out of orders that CSSC (China Shipbuilding Group Corporation) contracted, in value terms, while CSSC won orders for high-value vessels, such as 174,000CMB LNG carriers, 38,000DWT stainless steel chemical tankers, 45,000DWT Con-Ro vessels, 50,000DWT chemical tankers and 83,000CBM LPG carriers.
Meanwhile, CSIC (China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation) pushed itself for research and development of new design such vessels like 110,000DWT ice breaking tanker, pure car/truck carrier (PCTC), Windfarm Installation Vessel, Offshore supply vessel, drillship and vessel for performing governmental duties, etc.
Also, in 2012, Chinese shipbuilding industry centered on the independent research and development and gained relatively high orders in Offshore facility segment.
Specifically, China’s major companies, Shanghai Shipyard, Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore, COSCO Shipyard Group, Dalian Shipbuilding Industry (DSIC), Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and Jinhai Heavy Industry continuously delivered the China’s first subsea semi-submersible accommodation platform, the 6th-generation semi-submersible drilling platform and, at the same time, inked orders of semi-submersible drilling platform, jack-up drilling platform, jackup platform, drillship and Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO).
Chinese shipbuilding industry in 2012 pushed itself harder for its restructuring in response to the changes in the market. The number of shipbuilders, which concentrated on some particular vessels, increased to target niche market.
CSSC Guangzhou Huangpu Shipbuilding, Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) and Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry centered on vessels for governmental duties such as patrol boats, while Huanghai Shipbuilding, Daoda Heavy Industry (DDHI) on deep-sea fishing vessels and Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering (SOE) on LPG carriers and Offshore modules. Also, Zhejiang Shipbuilding and Fujian Southeast Shipyard concentrated on Offshore support vessels, featuring their own strengths.