Following the new investment of RMB 9.2 billion ($1.265 billion) for the construction of Hengli Heavy Industries (Dalian Changxing Island) Industrial Park Project, only 2 days later, Hengli Group announced to increase its investment by RMB 2 billion ($275 million) again to construct the Hengli Heavy Industries (Dalian Changxing Island) Supporting Industrial Park Project simultaneously.
July 9, the Administrative Committee of Changxing Island Economic and Technological Development Zone and Hengli Group signed the “Hengli Heavy Industries (Dalian Changxing Island) Supporting Industrial Park Industrial Development Agreement” in Dalian. According to the agreement, based on the “Hengli Heavy Industries (Dalian Changxing Island) Industrial Park Industrial Development Agreement”, Hengli Group will invest another 2 billion yuan ($275 million) to synchronize the construction of Hengli Heavy Industries (Dalian Changxing Island) supporting industrial park.
It is understood that on July 7, the Dalian Municipal People’s Government, the Administrative Committee of Changxing Island Economic and Technological Development Zone and Hengli Group signed the Agreement on Industrial Development of Hengli Heavy Industries (Dalian Changxing Island) Industrial Park.
Under the agreement, Hengli Group will make an additional investment of RMB 9.2 billion (about $1.265 billion) to build Hengli Heavy Industries (Dalian Changxing Island) Industrial Park, which is expected to form a construction capacity of 1.8 million tons of annual steel processing capacity and an annual output of 7.1 million dwt, to further expand the manufacturing business of super-large oil tankers, super-large LNG carriers, super-large container ships, offshore floating production and storage tankers, offshore floating wind turbines, drilling platforms, and other high value-added green ships and high-end offshore equipment manufacturing business such as drilling platforms, to create a modern, intelligent and green first-class ship and offshore equipment manufacturing industry base.
Hengli Heavy Industries, formerly known as STX Dalian Shipbuilding Co Ltd, was reportedly the largest foreign-owned shipyard in China. The company was founded in 2006, and declared bankruptcy and liquidation on December 20, 2015. In July 2022, Hengli Heavy Industry Group Co, Ltd, a subsidiary of Hengli Group, acquired STX Dalian Shipbuilding at a price of RMB 2.11 billion (about US$293 million).
At the beginning of 2023, Hengli Heavy Industrial Park was formally operated, and Hengli Shipbuilding (Dalian) Co. Ltd. has gathered more than 30 domestic and foreign well-known experts in design, quality and production to set up a ship design research center. Meanwhile, Hengli Heavy Industry keeps upgrading and remodeling the production line, and focuses on the construction of six major sectors, including shipbuilding, marine engineering, engine, equipment manufacturing, precision casting and green building materials. After full operation, the industrial park will have an annual steel processing capacity of 1 million tons, shipbuilding capacity of 6.3 million deadweight tons, the annual delivery of 40 vessels.
Since the operation in early 2023, Hengli Heavy Industries has successively received dozens of new vessels orders with bulk carriers as its main product. Clarkson data show that Hengli Heavy Industries currently holds orders for 66 vessels, including bulk carriers (56), very large ore carriers (VLOC) (6) and very large crude carriers (VLCC) (4), with delivery schedules up to 2027. Six VLOCs are from Singapore’s Winning International Group, which signed a shipbuilding contract on July 3. Four VLCCs are from Hengli Group, two of which have been resold to Dynacom Tankers, a tanker shipping company owned by Greek ship king George Procopiou.
In terms of ultra-large container ship market, although Hengli Heavy Industries has not yet received orders, this “new shipyard” has already reached a cooperation with South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries and is responsible for the construction of a number of 15,000 TEU container ships for its TERA section, the steel processing volume of nearly 70,000 tons, marking the Hengli Heavy Industries formally entered the large-scale international class container ship construction field. This will lay a solid foundation for Hengli Heavy Industries to undertake container ship orders, and is of great significance for the shipyard to rapidly enhance its production capacity and technical level.
Besides shipbuilding business, Hengli Engine (Dalian), a subsidiary of Hengli Heavy Industries, entered into a patent license agreement with MAN Energy Solutions on July 31, 2023, marking the official launch of Hengli’s engine building business. According to the agreement, MAN Energy Solutions will provide full-cycle technical support and quality guidance to help Hengli Engine (Dalian) rapidly improve engine production quality.
With the in-depth promotion of the $1.265 billion shipbuilding base project and 275 million RMB supporting projects, the future development prospect of Hengli Heavy Industries (Dalian Changxing Island) Industrial Park is promising, which will inject more development vitality into China’s shipbuilding industry and improve the global competitiveness of China’s shipbuilding industry.