The reporter learned from multiple shipyards that the delivery period of some Jiangsu shipping companies has been scheduled until 2030.

Jiangsu is the largest province in China's shipbuilding and offshore industry, exporting various types of ships worth 104.22 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 59%, ranking first in the country. Recently, reporters have learned from multiple shipyards that the delivery dates of some Jiangsu shipping companies have been scheduled until 2030. What are the reasons for Jiangsu's shipbuilding industry to "ride the wind and break the waves"? The reporter recently conducted a visit.

'Green' has become the industry's background color

In 2024, New Era Shipbuilding achieved a total invoice sales revenue of 16.068 billion yuan, an increase of 28% over the previous year. According to data released by the globally renowned shipping consulting firm Clarkson Research, the number of new orders received has topped the global charts

At the New Era Shipyard located in Taizhou, Jiangsu, General Manager Liu Haijin introduced that in 2025, New Era Shipbuilding will seize the historical opportunity of high shipbuilding prosperity, anchor the target task of delivering 30 ships, and accelerate the construction of new energy ship intelligent manufacturing projects.

The data confirms the confidence of the development of shipbuilding in the new era. In 2024, the company delivered 34 ships annually, totaling 4.2707 million deadweight tons, setting a new historical high in the number of ships delivered and ranking among the top three in the country in terms of total shipbuilding completion. As of the end of 2024, the company holds 162 orders with a carrying capacity of 23.05 million tons, ranking among the top three in the world, and the orders are scheduled until 2029.

The Yangtze River Shipbuilding Industry, which is not far from the new era shipbuilding, holds orders as far away as 2030.

Data shows that in 2024, the company achieved a total of 126 new orders worth approximately $14.6 billion. As of the end of 2024, Yangtze River Shipbuilding holds 245 orders worth approximately 24.4 billion US dollars. The reporter found that the value of clean energy ship orders accounted for about 74% of the total value, which is also the key to the rapid performance of Jiangsu shipbuilding enterprises in this round.

In addition to favorable market conditions, Yangtze River Shipbuilding has increased research and development investment in recent years, promoted product structure transformation, actively promoted the research and development of green ships, and successfully delivered 64 new ships in 2024. Among them, a variety of clean energy ships that conform to international environmental protection trends, represented by 7000TEU dual fuel container ships and 1260TEU methanol dual fuel container ships, have won wide market recognition, "said the person in charge of Yangtze River Shipbuilding.

With the widespread application of green energy, technology, and materials in various types of ships, "green" has become the foundation of Jiangsu's shipbuilding industry. Taking the methanol dual fuel power system as an example, it not only significantly reduces emission pollution, but also improves the economy and reliability of ships.

At the beginning of 2025, New Era Shipbuilding and Yangtze River Shipbuilding simultaneously signed a large contract with German shipping giant Hapag Lloyd for a total of 24 LNG dual fuel container ships, with an order value of up to 28.5 billion yuan.

Accelerate the transformation of "smart manufacturing"

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the European Union have established emission reduction targets for shipping, and the use of alternative fuels by ships is an inevitable choice to achieve decarbonization in shipping Han Qianting, an industry researcher at China Merchants Bank Research Institute, believes that LNG powered ships still dominate the main market, while methanol powered ships are beginning to be applied on a large scale. In the long run, they may further move towards low-carbon/zero carbon fuel solutions such as liquid ammonia and liquid hydrogen. This also means that Chinese shipbuilding companies represented by Jiangsu Shipyard are expected to maintain a leading position in accelerating the process of green transformation.

Maintaining a "green" lead is inseparable from intelligent manufacturing.

Entering the intelligent segmented manufacturing workshop newly built and put into operation in the new era of shipbuilding, equipment such as gantry cranes and intelligent welding collaborate efficiently through intelligent software. This not only greatly improves the efficiency of flat segmented production, but also further reduces labor costs, and increases shipbuilding efficiency by more than 30%. Nowadays, the time required to build a Panamax bulk carrier in New Era Shipbuilding has been shortened from about 2 years to about 8 months.

At the policy level, as early as September 2023, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology and nine other departments jointly released the "Three Year Action Plan for High Quality Development of Jiangsu Province's New Energy Ship Industry (2023-2025)", aiming to further enhance the competitiveness of the province's ship and marine equipment industry. In this context, Jiangsu's marine and shipbuilding backbone enterprises are actively promoting intelligent transformation and digital transformation, continuously improving their lean manufacturing capabilities, and accelerating their "smart manufacturing" transformation.

Suhao Chuangke Shipbuilding Company currently has orders on hand until after 2027. Just a few years ago, the operation of the company's predecessor, Shuntian Shipbuilding, was still stagnant. The reason why we were able to seize this market opportunity is not only due to the restructuring of state-owned assets, but also because of our recent efforts in the field of intelligent manufacturing.

The relevant person in charge of the company introduced that with the help of the controlling shareholder, the company has increased its research and development efforts in the fields of ship design optimization, equipment intelligence upgrading, and material recycling. At the same time, it actively responds to the national large-scale equipment renewal policy, fully promotes the application work of equipment upgrade and renovation projects, formulates key equipment renovation plans, and gradually improves the intelligent manufacturing level of the shipyard through equipment and facility renovation, environmental protection and energy-saving renovation.

Forging a more resilient industrial chain

According to data from Clarkson Research, the global new shipbuilding order volume reached a 17 year high in 2024, with a total of 2412 new ship orders signed by shipyards worldwide, equivalent to 170 million deadweight tons (DWT) and 65.81 million corrected gross tons (CGT). Based on the revised total tonnage, the number of new ship orders signed by shipyards worldwide increased by 33.77% year-on-year last year. In the order ranking, Chinese shipyards have demonstrated strong capabilities. According to the revised total tonnage ranking, China accounts for seven out of the top ten new orders globally, with the top four spots all dominated by Chinese companies, including two from Jiangsu province.

Although the advantages of Chinese shipping companies are obvious, in some high-end ship types, domestic enterprises are still just starting to catch up. On June 6, 2023, China's first domestically produced large cruise ship, the "Aida Modu", was docked, marking China's successful acquisition of the "crown jewel" of the world's shipbuilding industry.

Luxury cruise ships belong to the 'mega system' project, and China is gradually establishing its own cruise industry chain ecosystem from scratch. A shipbuilding industry insider believes that on the one hand, the industrial ecosystem needs to be improved, and on the other hand, the external environment facing China's shipbuilding industry is undergoing significant changes. Whether it is the port fee proposal proposed by the US Trade Representative in February this year regarding 'building ships for China', or the recent announcement by the US to impose so-called 'equivalent tariffs' on all trading partners, it will bring uncertainty.

A relevant person in charge of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology stated that forging a more resilient industrial chain is an effective means of dealing with external risks.

In February of this year, Jiangsu established the Ship and Offshore Engineering Supporting Industry Alliance. The alliance will focus on optimizing and coordinating the industrial chain, supply chain, and service chain, fully play the role of a bridge and link, carry out collaborative technology research and development, accurately carry out supply and demand docking, collaborate to establish a good and orderly industrial development ecology, and promote the strengthening, supplementing, and extending of the industrial chain. The person in charge stated that there are currently 1539 supporting enterprises in Jiangsu Province that have passed the certification of ship products by the Jiangsu Branch of China Classification Society. The alliance covers leading enterprises in 9 sub fields such as power systems and equipment, deck machinery, etc. After its establishment, members will work together to explore the international market and strengthen collaborative research and development.

At present, the total amount of orders in hand for Jingjiang shipping companies exceeds 250 billion yuan, accounting for nearly one-fifth of the total national orders and more than one tenth of the global total

New Era Shipbuilding and Yangtze River Shipbuilding are located in Jingjiang City, Taizhou, Jiangsu Province. The relevant person in charge of the city's development and reform commission told reporters that Jingjiang has an excellent Yangtze River coastline and obvious advantages in the shipbuilding industry, but also due to the industry cycle's multiple fluctuations. In recent years, Jingjiang has strengthened its industrial chain layout, vigorously supported ship supporting enterprises, and achieved good results.

At present, there are more than 10 shipbuilding, repair and dismantling enterprises in Jingjiang City, and more than 200 supporting enterprises. The localization supporting rate exceeds 40%, and the obvious trend of clustering has become a key force in promoting industrial upgrading.

Technological innovation has also become a key factor.

The "Aida Modu" is exclusively provided with steel plates and ship profiles for cruise ships by Nangang Corporation. Large luxury cruise ships have strict requirements for steel plate weight, unevenness, thickness tolerance, etc. Through equipment upgrades and technological breakthroughs, the company has achieved precise control of the thickness tolerance of 4mm thick steel plates, solving the global problem of controlling the shape and thickness of wide and thin plates, and laying a material foundation for the localization construction of large luxury cruise ships, "a relevant person from Nangang Co., Ltd. told reporters