China’s Shipbuilding Industry Sees Strong Increase of Orders

By Lily Wang

This years shipbuilding in- dustry has been thriving this year. This kind of prosperity of the industry has not been seen for a long time. All of this is mainly because of the slow recovery of the global economy. As the container freight prices keep rising， the global shipping capacity is being adjusted and upgraded， and shipping enterprises are seeking to increase shipping capacity to meet rising shipping demands.

On October 12， the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry released the business data of the shipbuilding industry of the first 9 months of this year. The data shows that during this period， Chinese shipbuilding companies have seen good performance in three key indexes.

Ranking first in the world

It is estimated that during the first 9 months of this year， the completed shipbuilding volume in China reached 30.34 million dwt， a year-on-year increase of 6.2%， and the new shipbuilding orders amounted to 54.156 million dwt， a year-on-year increase of 223.3%. By the end of September， the shipbuilding orders in hand were 92.439 million dwt， a yearon-year increase of 32.3% and an increase of 30.0% from the end of 2020.

Zhang Yongfeng， chief consultant of Shanghai International Shipping Institute， said that considering the current order volume， the orders of container ship and bulk ships rose at the highest speed.

Lin Qingshan， Vice President of Jiangnan Shipbuilding of CSSC， said that this year has seen increasing number of orders. “During the first 9 months of this year， Chinas shipbuilding completion， new orders and handheld orders account for 45.6%， 53.2% and 47.3% of the world respectively. China has continue to rank first of the world in terms of market share.”

State-owned shipbuilding companies benefited most from the order increase. During the first half year， CSSC signed orders of more than 300 ships with more than 18 million dwt， increasing by 300% from last year. CSSC ranks first among the world shipbuilding enterprises in terms of market share and finished annual targets in advance.

Container ships take the bulk of the newly-added orders this year. COSCO Shipping Holdings Co.， Ltd. is Chinas largest container shipping company， having more than 500 container ships of all types. Their shipping capacity reached more than 3 million TEU， but this is still far from meeting shipping demands. This year COSCO Shipping Holdings has added more than 30 new ships.

Private shipbuilding enterprises have also gained a lot. The Seaspan Corporation， the worlds largest container freight enterprise， has signed a big order with Yangtze River Ship- building and entrusted the latter to build more than 10 new Panamax LNG powered container ships. This year， Yangtze River Shipbuilding， Chinas largest private shipbuilding enterprise， has received more than 100 orders of new ships， and about 70% of the orders are container ships， with the total value of orders reaching more than USD 6 billion. According to Ren Letian， Chairman of Yangzi River shipbuilding， this year is the best year for Yangzi River shipbuilding in history in terms of new orders received.

South Korea， Chinas biggest rivalry in the shipbuilding industry， also benefited a lot this year. It has clear advantages in ships with high added value and profits. South Korean president Moon Jae-in said last month that S. Koreas shipbuilding industry has returned to world biggest shipbuilding nation in terms of orders placed after 13 years. South Koreas environmentally friendly ship orders account for 66% of the worlds total and will increase to 75% in 2030， and he said that South Korea will be unchallenged in staying the number one in the world.

South Korea has formulated the K-Shipbuilding Rejuvenation Plan， in hopes to build South Korea into the biggest shipbuilding country in the world. Samsung Heavy Industries recently ended its operation in Ningbo， showing South Koreas determination to invigorate the domestic shipbuilding industry， create more jobs and bringthe manufacturing business back to South Korea.

Make raw material prices more stable

Since the beginning of this year， benefiting from the recovery of the global economy and the rise of international trade demand， the global shipping market has gradually recovered， and new ship orders represented by container ships have been increasing rapidly. Although shipbuilding companies are pleased with the incoming orders， they are also facing increasing pressure of earning profits due to the sharp rise in the cost of raw materials.

He Minghui， assistant to the general manager and head of the raw material department of Jiangsu Yangtze River Shipbuilding Group， said，“we received a lot of orders early this year， but these orders putus under tremendous pressure as the steel price has increased from RMB 4，500-4，600/mt early this year to RMB 6，000-6500/mt. This means we will have losses.”

Losses may be incurred becauseshipbuilding contracts are closed contracts， with ship prices locked in as soon as the contract is signed. However， the shipbuilding industry is a long-cycle industry， and raw material procurement during the shipbuilding process followsmarket prices.

Chen Gong， Deputy General Manager of COSCO Shipping Heavy Industries， said， “low-price orders and high steel prices have caused difficulties for shipbuilding companies. For example， apopular 16，000 container ship uses about 40 thousand mt steel. This year the steel price rose by RMB 2，000/ mt， which means cost to build the ship will increase by RMB 80 million.”

Shipbuilding is closely linked to the steel price， because the cost of steel accounts for 20-30% of the cost of building a single ship. This means the sharp rise in steel prices will squeeze the profit margin of the shipbuilding companies. According to statistics from the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry， in the first eight months of this year， Chinas 470 shipbuilding enterprises achieved a total business revenue of RMB 182.16 billion， a yearon-year increase of 10.2%， but the total profit was only RMB 1.94 billion， a yearon-year decrease of 21.8%.

Recently， the shipbuilding industry and steel industry jointly signed the memorandum of cooperation between the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry and the China Iron and Steel Association. Long-term procurement agreements were signed between 13 key shipbuilding enterprises and 15 key steel-making enterprises.

Tan Naifen， Deputy Secretary-General of the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry， said that signing these long-term agreements aims to ensure raw materials will be supplied to shipbuilding companies at a stable price and that the steel industry will be pushed to produce quality product.

Tan Naifen said that since the price of Chinas shipbuilding steel was RMB 800/mt higher than South Koreas earlier this year， it would be impossible to deliver onthe orders without the support from the steel companies when it comes to their steel supply.

Wang Yingsheng， Chief Economist of the China Iron and Steel Association， said that it is important to continue research and development of new products， enhance technological innovation， and go through this hard time with other entities of the supply chain and industry chain. Steel companies will provide more products tailored to the shipbuilding companies needs and thus achieve high-quality development of the iron and steel industry.

Focus on green and environmental protection concept

At present， the world is advocating greenness， environmental protection and low carbon， and the shipbuilding industry is no exception. IMO， The international maritime organization（IMO） has formulated the emission re- duction target for the shipping industry. It is planned that the greenhouse gas emissions of the global shipping industry will be reduced by 40% and 50% respectively by 2030 and 2050 based on the emission of 2008.

Since the year 2018， the European Union had implemented a supervision and inspection system on the carbon dioxide emissions of large ships. In April this year， the United States also put forward the emission reduction target of the shipping industry， which has led to the transition of the global shipbuilding industry towards new energy， environmental protection and low carbon emissions. The three major shipbuilding enterprises in South Korea have increased their R&D efforts in this area， in hopes of seizing larger market share of new energy power and low-carbon emission ships in the future.

LNG ships is the low-carbon ship products that meet the current emission requirements. The technical content and manufacturing standard of such ships are relatively high， and they belong to products with high value-added and profits. In this regard， Korean enterprises have obvious advantages， and Chinese enterprises are still far behind in terms of material technology， ship design， manufacturing process and construction cycle.

Chinas shipbuilding industry has also witnessed remarkable progress in the technology in recent years. At the end of September this year， CSSC delivered a 220，000 ton super large container ship to CMA-CGM. This ship adopts the technologies of thin-film fuel tank and dual fuel power propulsion， and takes liquefied natural gas as the main fuel. Compared with traditional container ships， this ship can reduce emissions of carbon， nitrogen oxides and sulfur by 20%， 85% and 99% respectively， which is able to meet the worlds most stringent emission standards.

Experts suggest that currently is a good time to develop the shipbuilding industry. The shipbuilding industry should focus more on the ship products with high added value， low carbon emissions and intelligent operation. It shall also formulate an overall development plan to avoid low-price and low-efficiency competition.