With the gradual recovery of the global ship market, the new building market ushered in a boom in orders. Against this backdrop, a number of shipbuilders have expanded their production capacity to meet the demand for orders. Several shipyards that went bankrupt and closed during market downturns have also restarted or been acquired to form new enterprises.
The expanded shipyards include: Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, New Times Shipbuilding, Wuhu Shipyard, Wison New Energy (WNE), Nantong Xiangyu Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (XMXYG SOE), BOMESC Offshore Engineering, COOEC and etc.
The restarted shipyards include: Dalian Shipbuilding Offshore Co. (DSOC), Hengli Heavy Industry, Jiangxi New Jiangzhou Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, Sainty Shipbuilding (Yangzhou), Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding, Quanzhou Shipyard, Fujian Guanhai Shipbuilding Industry and so on.
Capacity Expansion
Yangzijiang Shipbuilding: Yangzijiang Shipbuilding acquired 34% of the equity of Zhoushan Tsuneishi Shipbuilding, and Zhoushan Tsuneishi Shipbuilding will become a joint venture of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding. On February 19, 2025, the construction of Yangzi Hongyuan Green High-tech Clean Energy Shipbuilding Base, which was built with an investment of 3 billion yuan, started. The base has a coastline length of about 1,320 meters and covers an area of about 1,300 Mu. It will build a 300,000-ton shipbuilding dock, a 200,000-ton outfitting wharf, and a 100,000-ton harbor basin, with an annual production capacity of about 800,000 deadweight tons. It is expected to be completed and put into production by the end of 2026.
New Times Shipbuilding: New Times shipbuilding plans to invest RMB 5 billion to develop new energy ship intelligent manufacturing project (Phase I) project. The first phase of the project plans to build intelligent manufacturing workshops and other facilities, while renovating the existing coating room and intelligent production lines. The company proposes to increase new plants and auxiliary buildings including new workshops, 110,000 volt substation, compressed air station, liquid oxygen gasification station, propane gasification station, LNG gasification station, carbon dioxide gasification station etc.;purchase intelligent technology and large gantry crane and other intelligent equipment, and plan to build a dock, a river pier. The new dock is 700 metres long, which can build two VLCCS side by side and accommodate two VLCC half-ship sections side by side. Upon completion, New Times Shipbuilding will have four dry docks.
Wuhu Shipyard: In May 2024, Wuhu Shipyard (Weihai) Green Marine Technology Industrial Base was officially put into operation, with an investment of RMB 2 billion. The Weihai base is mainly engaged in ship construction, design, repair, offshore engineering equipment and offshore wind power equipment development, covering an area of 460,000 square meters. It has one 100,000-ton dock and two 50,000-ton slipways, mainly building 3000-9000 CEU PCTCs, 50,000 DWT MR tanker, 80,000 DWT Panamax bulk carriers and etc., with a total planned capacity of 800,000 deadweight tons. On August 22, 2024, Wuhu Shipyard signed an agreement for the Chizhou Intelligent Green Shipbuilding Base Project. On August 22, 2024, the Wuhu Shipyard Chizhou Intelligent Green Ship Manufacturing Base project was signed. The base focuses on the research, development and manufacturing of inland and offshore green intelligent ships.
Wison New Energy (WNE)：Wison Nantong Base Upgrade project started in March 2023 and was completed at the end of November. It consists of four parts: a new spraying workshop, SPB tank assembly workshop, 2000t×200m shipbuilding gantry crane and dock expansion. The total construction area of the coating workshop exceeds 10,000 square meters, and the annual spraying capacity of Nantong base has increased from 500,000 square meters to 1.2 million square meters. SPB tank workshop has a total construction area of more than 25,000 square meters, with an annual output of 16 SPB tanks of 50,000 cubic meters; One new 2000t×200m shipbuilding gantry crane will be built; The length of the dock was extended from 290 meters to 370 meters. On February 5, 2025, Wison Qidong base project was kicked off, covering an area of about 1.2 million square meters. The first phase of the project has 1,370 meters of dredged deep-water harbor shoreline, will be completed and put into operation in the fourth quarter of 2025, with 250,000 tons of steel handling capacity/year. The base will build a 520-meter-long, 110-meter-wide offshore dock with a 2,000-ton lifting capacity gantry crane; the module assembly site is about 150,000 square meters, with a 5,000-ton module lifting out of the shipping berths and 10,000-ton module roll-on and roll-off terminal, the module site will be equipped with a 1,200-ton lifting capacity gantry crane.
XMXYG SOE: XMXYG SOE won the core assets of Jiangsu Hongqiang marine Heavy Industry (Hongqiang Heavy Industry) at a price of RMB 440 million. The bidding assets include 56,352.42 square meters of housing buildings owned by Hongqiang Heavy Industry, one wharf, three 50,000-100,000 tons slipways, 682.3 meters of Yangtze River shoreline usage rights and related equipment, patents, etc. It is estimated that the annual production capacity of XMXYG SOE can be expected to increase by 60% after reaching production. Hongqiang Heavy Industry was established in 2005, is a large-scale offshore and shipbuilding enterprise.
BOMESC Offshore Engineering: Lingang Offshore Heavy Industry Construction Base Phase IV Reconstruction and Expansion Project of BOMESC Offshore Engineering was completed in October 2024. The expansion project is located on the east side of the already constructed Phase IV project. It plans to build a structure workshop, pre-assembly workshop, compressed air station, and the No. 6 final assembly site, , etc. The total area covers 94,984.1 square meters. The project mainly focuses on the manufacturing of FPSO topside modules, LNG pipe racks and process modules, offshore platform modules, and other factory modular products. It has an annual production capacity of 1,500 to 10,000 tons and an annual steel processing capacity of 22,500 tons.
COOEC: The COOEC Tianjin Intelligent Manufacturing Base is being constructed in two phases. The first phase was completed and put into operation in June 2022, while the second phase began construction in July 2023 and is expected to be put into operation by October 30, 2024. The base covers an area of approximately 575,000 square meters and includes four intelligent production workshops, eight production support centers, sixteen final assembly workstations, and a wharves suitable for large ships. This base will focus on the development of high-end oil and gas equipment, such as offshore oil and gas platforms and floating production equipment LNG modules. And to create a comprehensive base integrating intelligent manufacturing of offshore engineering, intelligent protection of oil and gas field operation and maintenance, as well as offshore technology innovation and research and development platform, etc., with an annual production capacity of nearly 90,000 tons after full operation.
Jiangsu Hantong Ship Heavy Industry (HT): In February 2025, Hantong Offshore Manufacturing Base Project settled in Qidong City, the project is located in the East Port Area of Lvshigang Economic Development Zone of the sheltered harbor basin, with an investment of RMB 3.5 billion, mainly producing various types of large-scale and high value-added offshore modules. After the project reaches production, the annual output of marine high-end equipment is more than 100,000 tons, and the annual output value is about RMB 3.5 billion.
Restarting shipyards
Dalian Shipbuilding Offshore Co. (DSOC): DSOC was once a subsidiary of Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Corporation(DSIC) of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). Founded in September 2006, it is engaged in the manufacturing of offshore equipment and can build jack-up and semi-submersible drilling/living platforms, drilling ships, FPSO and other offshore engineering and ships at the same time. It has the ability to deliver 8-10 offshore engineering projects annually. In January 2019, DSOC entered bankruptcy reorganization procedures; in December 2022, its equity relationship was officially separated from DSIC. On August 30, 2023, it received its first independent contract order after bankruptcy reorganization. On September 15, 2023, it issued a name change notice and changed its name to “Dalian Shipbuilding Offshore Co., Ltd.”
Hengli Heavy Industry: Formerly known as STX (Dalian) Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. Hengli Heavy Industry Group, a subsidiary of Hengli Group, acquired idle assets under STX Dalian Shipbuilding and other companies for RMB 2.11 billion in July 2022; in the fourth quarter of 2022, Hengli Heavy Industry officially restarted its shipbuilding business; at the beginning of 2023, Hengli Heavy Industry Industrial Park was put into operation; on April 18, 2024, Hengli Heavy Industry delivered the first ship after restarting its shipbuilding business.
In July 2024, Hengli Heavy Industry invested an additional 9.2 billion RMB to start the second phase project of Hengli Heavy Industry Park (already under construction), focusing on expanding the manufacturing business of high value-added green ships and high-end offshore equipments such as VLCCs, VLGCs, large-scale containerships, FPSOs, offshore floating wind turbines, drilling platforms, etc., which is expected to form the construction capacity of 1.8 million tons of steel processing volume per annum and the annual production capacity of 7.1 million DWTs. Also, Hengli Heavy Industry announced an additional investment of 2 billion yuan to synchronize the construction of Hengli Heavy Industry (Dalian Changxing Island) supporting industrial park. on January 15, 2025, the second phase of Hengli Heavy Industry project went into operation.
New Jiangzhou Shipbuilding Heavy Industry: the predecessor of New Jiangzhou Shipbuilding Heavy Industry was Jiangxi Jiangzhou Union Shipbuilding; In 2008, Jiangxi Jiangzhou Union Shipbuilding became a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Ocean Industry Group Limited; in March 2018, Jiangzhou United Shipbuilding was managed by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding; in October 2018, China Ocean Industry Group announced the sale of the assets of Jiangzhou United Shipbuilding at a price of RMB 100 million to Ruichang City Ruilian Asset Management Co. in 2022; in August 2022, the People’s Government of Ruichang City, together with Yangzijiang Financial Holding Group and Jiangsu
In August 2022, the Ruichang Municipal People’s Government signed a RMB 10 billionhigh-end ship equipment manufacturing and green building materials project with Yangzijiang Financial Holding Group and Jiangsu Zhenqiu Investment Group. As the main contractor of the high-end ship manufacturing project, New Jiangzhou Shipbuilding Heavy Industry took over the main production factors of its predecessor Jiangzhou United Shipbuilding from Ruilian Asset Company. On November 30, 2023, New Jiangzhou Shipbuilding Heavy Industry announced the restart and resumption of work and production.
Sainty Shipbuilding (Yangzhou)：Sainty Shipbuilding (Yangzhou) was originally a subsidiary of Jiangsu Sainty Marine Corp (Sainty Marine) was established in September 2004. In 2011, Sainty Shipbuilding (Yangzhou) was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. In 2016, it went bankrupt and reorganized due to serious losses, becoming the first listed shipbuilding company in China to go bankrupt. Subsequently, Jiangsu Guoxin Investment Group saved Sainty Shipbuilding (Yangzhou) facing delisting by injecting capital in exchange for shares.In 2016, Jiangsu Guoxin Investment Group Jiangsu Sainty Assets Management Co. was established; in May 2016, all properties of Sainty Shipbuilding (Yangzhou) except monetary funds were transferred to Sainty Assets Management by an agreement; in March 2017, Sainty Shipbuilding (Yangzhou) was renamed Jiangsu Guoxin Co., Ltd. and announced its “withdrawing from the shipbuilding industry”. In January 2020, Sainty Assets Management delivered its first new ship since its establishment. In 2024, Sainty Machinery, Sainty Minmetals and Sainty Assets of angsu Soho Holdings Group completed the merger and reorganization and were renamed as Soho Chuangke Group, and Yangzhou Sunshine Shipbuilding restarted its shipbiliding business.
Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding: Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding was established in 2005 and was originally a subsidiary of Wuhan Guoyu Logistics Industry Group Co., Ltd. In September 2021, Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding applied for bankruptcy liquidation due to its inability to repay debts. In November 2021, the Yizheng People’s Court ruled to accept the bankruptcy liquidation application of Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding. In May 2022, the Yizheng People’s Court appointed a liquidation group as the administrator. Subsequently, the liquidation administrator publicly leased the premises, facilities, and physical assets of Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding and released a Temporary Lease Agreement in May 2023. By August 2024, Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding completed its bankruptcy restructuring, and DCL Investments officially became its controlling shareholder. After gaining control, DCL Investments will remain focused on the shipbuilding business of Yangzhou Guoyu Shipbuilding. It will equip the shipyard with a management and operations team with extensive experience, upgrade supporting facilities, promptly promote full resumption of production, and gradually transition to building high-value-added ships.
Quanzhou Shipyard: The predecessor of Quanzhou Shipyard is Quanzhou Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd., which was established in 2004. In 2007, Titan Petrochemicals Group, a private enterprise listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, acquired Quanzhou Shipyard for US$170 million and became its wholly-owned subsidiary; in 2010, Titan Petrochemicals decided to sell Quanzhou Shipyard but was unsuccessful; In December 2019, the People’s Court of Hui’an County, Fujian Province accepted the liquidation application of Quanzhou Shipyard; in November 2020, Quanzhou Shipyard initiated its first auction at approximately RMB 852 million; in January 2021, Quanzhou Jiaofa Real Estate Investment Group bid about RMB 1.2 billion to win the bankruptcy asset package of Quanzhou Shipyard; in February 2022, the Quanzhou Shipyard restructuring project with a total investment of RMB 2 billion was launched; In April 2022, Quanzhou Jiaofa Group established a wholly-owned subsidiary, Quanzhou Jiaofa Shipbuilding Industry Development to be responsible for the management and operation of the Quanzhou Shipyard; and in September 2023, the Quanzhou Shipyard formally resumed work and production.
Guanhai Shipbuilding: Guanhai Shipbuilding was invested and established by Fujian Guanhai Shipping Co., Ltd. In the second half of 2013, the Guanhai series of companies were indebted as much as RMB 2 billion due to broken capital chains; In April 2019, the Lianjiang County People’s Court of Fujian Province ruled to accept the bankruptcy application of Guanhai Shipbuilding and Fujian Guanhai Shipping; In February 2021, the administrators of the two companies issued a reorganization investor recruitment announcement and selected Fujian Jinsheng Real Estate Development as the intended investor; in December 2022, the “Pre-Reorganization Plan” of the two companies was adopted, meeting the conditions for substantive consolidation and reorganization; In May 2023, the administrator applied to the Lianjiang Court for substantive consolidation and reorganization of the two companies; In June 2023, the substantive consolidation reorganization opinions of the two companies were unanimously adopted by the creditors and debtors; in August 2023, the Draft Reorganization Plan of the two companies was fully adopted, and Fujian Jinsheng Real Estate Development was finally determined as the reorganization investor, and the Lianjiang Court ruled in the same month to approve the reorganization plan of the two companies and terminate the bankruptcy and reorganization procedures of the two companies, and Guanhai series of companies formally entered into the stage of reorganization and execution; in September 2023, Guanhai series of companies completed the bankruptcy and reorganization. The new company name after bankruptcy reorganization is Fujian Songmin Group.
COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Guangdong): COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Guangdong) was reorganized and established in 2017, reorganized and integrated by the former Guangdong COSCO Ship Engineering and CIC Boluomiao Shipyard. COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Guangdong) is divided into Dongguan Machong factory and Guangzhou Huangpu factory, which covers an area of 710,000 square meters, with one floating dock of 150,000 tons and two of 80,000 tons, four slipways, and seven deep-water wharves, with a total shoreline length of more than 2,000 meters. In 2020, COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Guangdong) will transform its shipbuilding business to high-end sea and land steel structure construction projects. In the third quarter of 2024, COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Guangdong) restarted shipbuilding and took orders for complete vessels.