According to the Chinese media People’s Daily, on September 24, China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding held a steel cutting ceremony for two 174,000 cbm LNG carriers. These two giant ships are the fifth-generation “Changheng series” LNG carriers independently developed and designed by the company. with a total length of 299 meters and a width of 46.4 meters, the two LNG carriers are equipped with a number of low-carbon and energy-saving technologies, featureing low comprehensive energy consumption, good low-temperature performance and strong cargo carrying capacity.
Since the beginning of this year, China’s shipbuilding industry has been full of bright spots. From January to September, the shipbuilding completion volume was 36.34 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 18.2%; the number of new orders was 87.11 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 51.9%; As of the end of September, the hand-held order volume was 193.3 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 44.3%. From January to September, the three major indicators of China’s shipbuilding account for 55.1%, 74.7% and 61.4% of the global total in terms of deadweight tonnage.
In recent years, with the leading international market share and the continuous enhancement of enterprise competitiveness, the overall level of China’s shipbuilding industry has continued to improved.
A breakthrough has been made in the construction of high-end equipment in China’s shipbuilding industry, and the whole spectrum of marine products has developed. In January this year, the first domestically produced large-scale cruise ship “Adora · Magic City” started its first commercial voyage. Last year, China’s shipbuilders delivered 20 the world’s largest 24,000 container ships, 4 large LNG carriers of 174,000 cbm and world’s largest 80,000 cbm of LNG carriers in shallow waterway.
In addition, in recent years, a number of high-end offshore engineering equipment such as new deep-sea large-scale wind power installation ships, deep-sea aquaculture equipment, and floating production, storage and offloading ships have been successfully delivered.
The order structure of new ships has been continuously optimized, and green and low-carbon development has been accelerated. China’s shipbuilding enterprises consolidate the position of advantageous ship types and seize the opportunity of market. In 2023, among the 18 major ship types in the world, China havd 14 ship types in the world, ranking first in the world in terms of new orders. Orders for green ships such as liquefied natural gas and methanol power have grown rapidly, orders for zero-carbon ships such as hydrogen fuel cells have made breakthroughs, and the international market share for new green ship orders has reached 57%.
Key ship products have been continuously improved, and new breakthroughs have been made in new energy equipment. Last year, China domestic X92 large-scale marine low-speed crankshaft forgings, wind power operation and maintenance ship compensated gangways, LNG carrier bunkering system and other equipment were delivered. In terms of R&D of new energy equipment, marine methanol fuel and ammonia fuel supply systems received bulk orders, and the first marine medium-speed and high-power ammonia fuel engine was successfully ignited.
The next two years will be the peak period for China’s shipbuilders
to deliver ships, and also the centralized delivery period for high-tech ships such as large LNG carriers and large container ships. Li Yanqing, Secretary-General of China Shipbuilding Industry Association, believes that in the next step, shipbuilding enterprises should strive to “ensure the delivery of ships”.