Responding to a question on the evolution of shipbuilding in different nations, one Chinese yard boss visited by the DNV press delegation gave his personal view as follows. Shipbuilding in Japan and Korea is like ‘people of 35 to 40, who are very strong and at their prime,’ said Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Corp president Ma Guo Dong, ‘while my industry is 16-17 years old.’

The analogy is worth pursuing. Thus far Chinese yards have proved remarkably malleable, allowing themselves to be guided by owners in the choice of what ship types to build, often at ‘loss-leader’ prices and subject to a very high degree of supervision.

But with their ‘coming of age’ in sight, and on the back of party year for shipbuilding, many of the larger yards are now stipulating the types of ship they want to build and holding out for higher prices. This coincides with the introduction of larger, VLCC-size drydocks at many yards, allowing series production of bigger, more lucrative ships.

All of which means that some foreign owners wanting to build smaller, one-off vessels have seen themselves unceremoniously ‘bumped’ from building slots they felt themselves on the eve of securing, leading to protests that have effectively accused Chinese yards of acting in an ‘adolescent’ fashion.

Far from it - ‘it ain’t signed till it’s signed,’ say the yards concerned, adopting what they see as the more mature business ethics of the market economy that will allow them to operate with greater autonomy in the future.

Date: 2003-12-01