Shipbuilding growth to hit record high By Gong Zhengzheng (China Daily) Updated: 2005-12-30 06:21
China's shipbuilding tonnage is expected to reach a record high of more than
12.5 million this year, grabbing 17 per cent of the global shipbuilding market,
up from 14.3 per cent in 2004.
The tonnage this year will grow by some 42 per cent from 8.8 million last
year, said Zhu Rujing, an analyst with Beijing-based China Shipbuilding Economy
Research Centre.
Growth of China's shipbuilding tonnage will account for most of the global
growth, which will increase to 71.2 million this year from 61.4 million in 2004,
Zhu said.
According to statistics from China Shipbuilding Industry Association, the
nation's shipbuilding tonnage jumped by 49 per cent year-on-year to 8.92 million
in the first three quarters of this year.
Zhu predicted the nation's shipbuilding tonnage will continue to grow
steadily in 2006 as a result of mounting capacity of domestic shipyards and
abundant orders.
Shipbuilding tonnage in China is expected to reach 15 million in 2006, which
will enable the nation to hold 20 per cent of the world's shipbuilding tonnage,
he said.
Despite the rapid growth, China will continue to be the world's third biggest
shipbuilding country following Japan and South Korea, Zhu said.
Both Japan and South Korea now control more than 30 per cent of global
shipbuilding market.
"Many Chinese shipyards appear short of capacity to satisfy the world's
strong ship demand," Zhu said.
On Tuesday, China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC), one of the nation's
biggest conglomerates in the industry, signed a contract with a domestic
shipping group to build 16 vessels, including very large crude carriers and
other ships for liquefied petroleum gas and refined oil.
The deal was worth nearly 6 billion yuan (US$740 million).
CSIC said its shipbuilding tonnage would reach 3 million this year.
However, Zhu warned of overcapacity starting from the second half of 2008
because domestic shipyards are developing massively, and growth of global ship
demand will slow down.
He estimated that total shipbuilding capacity in China would exceed 30
million tons by 2010, up from nearly 14 million at present.
CSIC said last month that it aimed to have a total capacity of more than 10
million tons by 2010.
Dalian Shipbuilding Industry (Group) Co Ltd, China's biggest single shipyard
affiliated to CSIC, plans to expand its capacity to 6 million tons in 2010 from
2.6 million now.
Foreign shipbuilding giants, such as those from South Korea and Japan, are
accelerating penetration into China, with some hoping to gain controlling stakes
in Chinese shipyards, and even build wholly-owned shipyards.
But informed sources said China will ban foreign shipbuilding groups from
doing this, with an anticipated new policy on the nation's shipbuilding sector.
China's ship exports have also been growing rapidly in recent years due to
booming global ship demand.
Zhu said ship exports would exceed 7 million tons this year.
Statistics showed Chinese shipyards built 5.44 million tons of ships for
export from January to September this year, up 30 per cent from a year ago.
The ship export value surged by 45.5 per cent to US$3.18 billion during the
period.
(China Daily 12/30/2005 page10)
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