According to the latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, from January to October this year, my country's shipbuilding completions, new orders, and hand-held orders accounted for 36.8%, 43.6%, and 43.6% of the world market share in terms of deadweight, respectively, and continued to maintain its international lead.

Over the past 70 years, China's shipbuilding industry has grown arduously on an extremely weak basis, slashed through waves and continued to move forward in fierce international competition. After several generations of unremitting efforts, it has made remarkable achievements and stepped out. An industrial development road with Chinese characteristics, China has become the world's main shipbuilding country.

"From the perspective of industrial scale, international status, product variety and shipbuilding efficiency, the changes in the shipbuilding industry over the past 70 years have been dramatic." said Wang Ruihua, deputy director of the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

From weak foundation to shipbuilding power

On October 18 this year, my country's first domestically produced large-scale cruise ship officially started ignition steel plate cutting at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., and entered a substantial construction stage. This is the first of the 2+4 135 thousand gross tonnage Vista-class large-scale cruise contracts signed by the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation with the American Carnival Group and the Italian Fincantini Group.

Large cruise ships are hailed as "the crown jewels" of the shipbuilding industry, and are high-tech ship products that my country has not yet captured. The construction of the cruise line marked a substantial step in the design and construction of a large cruise liner.

Wang Ruihua said that summing up the tremendous changes in China's shipbuilding industry over the past 70 years can be summarized as "big, complete and fast."

"Big" is based on the scale of the industry. In the early days of the founding of New China, my country had only 6 docks of over 5,000 tons and one berth. The annual shipbuilding completion was only about 10,000 tons, and its global share was less than one-thousandth. In 2018, my country had 489 docks and berths above 10,000 tons, with a shipbuilding completion of 35.03 million deadweight tons, accounting for 43.6% of the global share, ranking first in the world.

"Full" is based on the variety of products. In the early days of the founding of New China, my country was only able to build 1,000-ton ships. At present, almost all types of ships can be built in my country.

"Fast" is from the perspective of shipbuilding efficiency. In the early days of the founding of New China, the overall construction method was mainly adopted. It takes 4 years for my country to build a 10,000-ton ship. At present, the shipbuilding model has been developed into a segmented construction method and is being transformed into an intelligent manufacturing model. The period for building a 60,000-ton bulk carrier has been shortened to 8 months.

"The shipbuilding industry is a modern comprehensive industry that provides technical equipment for the national economy and national defense construction, and is an important force in the construction of a strong marine nation and a strong manufacturing nation." Wang Ruihua said.

Over the past 70 years, the shipbuilding industry has not only supported the development and growth of China’s ocean transportation industry, but also provided technical equipment support for major projects such as the Bird’s Nest, the Capital Airport Terminal, and the Three Gorges Shiplift, and also provided a series of modern equipment for China’s naval construction. Guarantee. The development of the shipbuilding industry has made important contributions to my country's national economy and national defense construction.