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Emma Ma

A shipyard in China that halted construction of new vessels eight years ago is staging a full comeback this year as global demand shifts towards small and medium-sized tonnage over ultra-large container ships.
Founded in the 1950s, Qingshan Shipyard, located on the Yangtze River in Wuhan in the central province of Hubei, was once a leading domestic manufacturer of chemical tankers. It now falls under the umbrella of China Merchants Group, a major Hong Kong-based conglomerate.
The yard has reshaped its business portfolio to specialise in small and medium-sized, high-value-added vessels, according to a Tuesday report by China Water Transport News, a publication under the Ministry of Transport.
According to the report, the shipyard had secured contracts for more than 20 vessels worth a combined 4.7 billion yuan (US$697 million) as of the end of July. An additional 6 billion yuan in tentative orders remained pending. The bulk of the bookings were for container ships with a capacity of 1,800 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
The small and medium classification for container ships generally refers to vessels below 8,000 TEUs deployed for regional feeder shipping services.
Qingshan Shipyard’s strategic transformation has timed the market perfectly.
“Shipowners are increasingly gravitating towards small and medium-sized container ships,” said Tu Jiaying, analyst at China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), in an article published in July.
World seaborne trade is increasingly tilting towards regionalisation
Tu Jiaying, CSSC
The existing fleet of such ships was ageing, with 32 per cent now more than two decades old, Tu said. In addition, uncertainty amid global geopolitical tensions was changing the nature of the shipping business.
“World seaborne trade is increasingly tilting towards regionalisation,” she said. “As a result, small and medium-sized container ships, which excel at port compatibility and flexible route scheduling, have surged in popularity.”
According to data from CSSC, orders for such vessels accounted for 48 per cent of total bookings for new container ships, measured in TEU volume, in the first half of the year. The share marked a gain of 33 percentage points from a year earlier.
By contrast, CSSC data showed ultra-large container vessels, measured in TEU, accounted for around 17 per cent of new-ship bookings from January to June.
“Qingshan Shipyard had “undoubtedly sensed this structural shift” and was “striving to carve out a slice of the booming market”, said Lan Xi, senior analyst at Shanghai-based Orient Futures.
Its comeback also stemmed from China’s “pre-eminent standing in the global shipbuilding sector, underpinned by the country’s mature, integrated shipbuilding supply chain”, she added.




Data from shipping services provider Clarksons showed that Chinese shipyards secured 111 new vessel orders in July, more than five times South Korea’s tally. Japanese yards obtained a single order.
“Amid intensifying geopolitical tensions, resilient domestic supply chains and dependable delivery schedules have lifted the implicit premium enjoyed by China’s shipbuilding sector,” said Lu Zhe, chief economist at Suzhou-based Soochow Securities.
He pointed to another key competitive advantage for the country’s shipbuilding industry: civil-military integration.
“Commercial and naval vessels share strong technical consistency,” Lu said. “China’s domestic shipbuilding industry has systematically transferred defence and military industrial technologies to the construction of merchant ships.”
He cited as an example Shanghai-based Jiangnan Shipyard, which can build both commercial and naval vessels.
“This set-up enables China to meet diverse maritime demands while concurrently bolstering national maritime security,” he said. “This also aligns with the central government’s policy mandates.”


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Formerly moribund facility on Yangtze River fills order book as shipowners favour small and medium-sized container vessels


Formerly moribund facility on Yangtze River fills order book as shipowners favour small and medium-sized container vessels.


Shifting tides in global maritime sector float Chinese shipyard’s outlook

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Formerly moribund facility on Yangtze River fills order book as shipowners favour small and medium-sized container vessels

Formerly moribund facility on Yangtze River fills order book as shipowners favour small and medium-sized container vessels