上海国际海事信息与文献网

China shipyard revives on small-ship demand

Agencies

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.

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. The existing fleet of such ships was ageing, with 32 per cent now more than two decades old, Tu said.“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.

来源：中国水运报