Ｓｈｉｐｂｕｉｌｄｉｎｇ Ｍａｋｅｓ Ｇｒａｔ Ｃｏｎｔｒｉｂｕｔｉｏｎｓ ｆｏｒ Ｎａｔｉｏｎａｌ Ｅｃｏｎｏｍｙ

1 lth July this year marks the 600thAnniversary of the first ocean voy-age embarked by the great Chi-nese navigator Zheng He. 3rd June thisyear is the 140th Anniversary of thefounding of Jiang Nan Shipyard， the pio-neer of Chinese industries of recenthistory. The shipbuilding industry ofChina has a long history， and had cre-ated glories in the history， and had pio-neered industries of China in recenthistory. In the 50 years after the found-ing of the People's Republic of China，shipbuilding industry in China has de-veloped and made outstanding achieve-ments in the world.

Shipbuilding in China has a longhistory， in the last 2，000 years in therecord， it took the lead in the world forabout 1，500 years. It was 600 years agowhen China reached the peak in ship-building technology， so that strongequipment and material support could beprovided for the ocean voyages by ZhengHe.

Since the adoption of the policy ofreform and opening-up， following the in-struction of the late Chinese leader DengXiaoqing the shipbuilding industry hasactively participated in the world market，and gone on a road of self strengtheningand development with low investmentand rapid effectiveness. With the en-deavor of over 2 decades， China has nowbecome the 3rd largest and importantshipbuilding country in the world.Shipbuilding in China Eyes New Era

At the beginning of the new century，shipbuilding industry of China has en-tered a period of rapid development. Agood development momentum has beenseen.

China can now design and build 300，000 DWT VLCCs and 8，000 TEU con-tainer carriers， and its shipyards has en-tered the building market of LNGcarriers， breaking the monopoly on suchship types by a few strong shipbuildingcountries. To date， apart from deluxecruise vessels and a few other types ofvessels， various types of ships coveringall oceans can be built in shipyards inChina in accordance with different in-ternational rules， specifications andconventions. The manufacture of marinemain engines， deck machinery and ma-rine equipment， reaches or approachesthe world advanced standards. The mainengines and marine equipment made inChina have been installed on board ex-port vessels and ocean ships for domes-tic ship owners. In the area of offshoreengineering， 200，000 (and plus) DWTFPSOs and several types of offshore plat-forms have also been developed and builtshipyards in China.

70% of the new ships built in Chinahave been exported to more than 100countries and regions in the world， in-cluding those to developed countriessuch as the USA， Japan， Germany，F(xiàn)rance and Canada. Shipbuilding indus-try has become an important pillar in-dustry in machinery/electrical productexport in China. In 2004， the total vol-ume of new ships exported is 5.6 mil-lion DWT， worth of USD3.16 billion.85% of the new ships in the order bookof shipyards in China are for export.

After the reform on the institutionsof The State Council in 1998， Commis-sion of Science， Technology and Indus-try for National Defense(COSTIND) hasbeen designated to supervise the ship-building industry in China. The supervi-sion is implemented at two levels (centraland provincial supervision). There is anAll China Shipbuilding Industry Super-vision Office under COSTIND. Thereare Shipbuilding Industry SupervisionDepartments in provincial governments.

China has attached great importanceto foreign cooperation concerningshipbuilding. Since the adoption of thepolicy of reform and opening-up， Chinahas introduced over 100 ship related andmarine equipment design and manufac-ture technologies. Apart from the eco-nomic and technical cooperation at com-mercial level， China has also establishedinter-government dialogue mechanismwith EU， Korea and Japan in the area ofshipbuilding. In 2002， with the authori-zation of The State Council， COSTIND，together with Ministry of Foreign Affairsand Ministry of Commerce has formedthe Delegation of China to participate inthe new round of negotiations on ship-building treaty sponsored by OECD， andplayed an active role in establishing afair and normal world shipbuildingmarket.

Good Development Momentum Seen

In the 50 years after the founding ofthe People's Republic of China， ship-building industry in China has developedand made outstanding achievements inthe world. At the beginning of the newcentury， shipbuilding industry of Chinahas entered a period of rapiddevelopment. A good development mo-mentum has been seen.

The Scale of the Shipbuilding IndustryExpanding Rapidly

During the 5 year period from 2000to 2004， the average annual growth rateof shipbuilding in China is 26%. In 2004，the total tonnage of ships built in Chinareached 8.8 million dead weight tons，14% of the world total， making Chinathe 3rd biggest shipbuilding country inthe world for 10 consecutive years. It isestimated that total tonnage of shipscompleted in China this year would be10 million DWT， 18% of the world total.

Independent Innovation ContinuouslyStrengthened

Based on the technology introduced，technical innovation in shipbuilding in-dustry has been increasinglystrengthened， with continuous improve-ment in ship RD， design and buildingtechnology. China can now design andbuild 300，000 DWT VLCCs and 8，000TEU container carriers， and its shipyardshas entered the building market of LNGcarders， breaking the monopoly on suchship types by a few strong shipbuildingcountries. To date， apart from deluxecruise vessels and a few other types ofvessels， various types of ships coveringall oceans can be built in ship-yards in China in accordance withdifferent international rules，specifications and conventions.The manufacture of marine mainengines， deck machinery and ma-rine equipment， reaches or ap-proaches the world advancedstandards. The main engines andmarine equipment made in Chinahave been installed on board ex-port vessels and ocean ships fordomestic ship owners. In the areaof offshore engineering， 200，000(and plus) DWT FPSOs and sev-eral types of offshore platformshave also been developed andbuilt in shipyards in China.

Ship Export Increased Rapidly

To date. the number of enter-prises in shipbuilding industry in Chinahas been increased to over 700 from over20 in the early years of the PRC. Thereare nearly 100 RD institutes coveringalmost all aspects， with a total technicalforce of 70，000 people. A complete in-dustrial system has been formed withreasonable distribution of enterprises inlarge， medium and small sizes， with bal-anced development of shipbuilding， shiprepair， marine equipment manufactureand offshore engineering and with com-mon development of the three majorshipbuilding forces in our country， i.e.China State Shipbuilding Corporation，China Shipbuilding Industry Corporationand other provincial shipyards.

There are a number of universitiesin China with disciplines related to shipswhich have trained a great number ofspecialized talents for shipbuilding in-dustry in China. The technical qualityand skills of the employees in shipbuild-ing industry have been improved throughperiodic training under strict examina-tion and qualification approval.

Future Prospect of ShipbuildingIndustry in China

At present， the shipbuilding indus-try in China encounters a good opportu-nity for development. From the point ofview of the market situation， the worldshipbuilding market is now at its peakafter the one in the 1970s. As China'seconomy and international trade growrapidly， domestic demand for ships isincreasing. As the implementation beingspeeded up of the national strategy ofexploitation of ocean resources， the de-mand for offshore engineering andequipment is expected to grow to a greatextend.

The world industry continuesrestructuring， and the center of shipbuild-ing of the world is moving towards theeast. There are obvious integrated advan-tages in China for development ofshipbuilding. On the one hand， there areample low cost labor resources， on theother hand， good foundation and condi-tions exist in China suitable for ship-building industry. If present develop-ment momentum remains for a certainperiod of time， greater achievementwould be made by shipbuilding indus-try in China.

With further development in the next10 years， it is estimated that by 2010，shipbuilding in China would take 25%of the world total. China will become an-other major shipbuilding country simi-lar to Korea and Japan. By year 2020，the shipbuilding technology in Chinawill come up to the world level andChina will then become a strong ship-building nation in the world.

The shipbuilding industry in Chinawill strictly stick to the policy of acomprehensive， coordinating and sus-tainable development. For a certain pe-riod of time in the future， concerning thedevelopment of shipbuilding industry，endeavor will be made in followingaspects:

- Utilizing the opportunities arisingform the renovation of the old industrialbase in north-east China， and the adjust-ment of layout of medium to large sizecities， set forth integral planning， throughmoving， expanding and merging， restruc-turing and other means to speed up therestructuring of the industry， to increasethe scale of the industry and to upgradespecialization

- Enhance technological introductionand self developing capacity， makebreakthrough in a number of keytechnologies， and upgrade rapidly theself developing and innovating capacity.Standardize and create brands on majorship types. Have self design capacity ofhigh tech ship types. Strengthen techni-cal reserves on offshore engineering.

- Speed up the development of ma-fine equipment， increase the local manu-facture marine equipment installation ra-tio on all ship types， develop several in-ternationally competitive marine equip-ment industrial bases， so as to makeChina a major marine diesel engine anddeck machinery manufacturing countryin the world.

- Push forward modem shipbuildingmode， increase shipbuilding efficiency，further increase competitiveness of ship-building industry.

Foreign shipbuilding groups， marineequipment developers and manufactur-ers and RD institutes are encouragedto cooperate or establish joint ventureswith their counterparts in China， to par-ticipate in the process of the upgradingof shipbuilding industry， enterprise re-structuring and technical innovation andto create a new cooperative and win-winsituation.

For the shipbuilding industry inChina it took 30 years to establish a com-prehensive industrial system from virtu-ally nothing， it took another 20 years todevelop and make China the 3rd biggestand important shipbuilding country inthe world. At present， the shipbuildingindustry in China encounters a good op-portunity for development. We believe，in 10 years' time， shipbuilding in Chinawill jump onto a new stage， and makegreater contributions to the constructionof national economy， to the constructionof modern national defense and to thedevelopment of world shipbuilding andshipping.