One of the most striking features to emerge from a round visits to key Chinese yards was the very different approaches being taken by China's two main shipyard groups.

Split in two four years ago to provide domestic competition, the southerly China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC) group and the north's China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC) may share headquarters and initials, but their tactics differ drastically

These are fierce rivals, adding containerships, VLCCs, ro-ro vessels and FPSOs to their bulker/tanker repertoires in an energetic struggle that has most recently come to include LNG.

CSSC's plan has been by the far the more ambitious. It intends to expand its current 4m dwt capacity to over 14m dwt by 2015. On the way, the group intends to create the world's biggest single yard, at Shanghai, and to become the world's number one shipbuilder by 2015.
A more 'conservative' CSIC is nonetheless intent on expanding its 1.8m dwt production for 2003 to 9m dwt by 2015.

Although VLCC docks are being expanded at CSIC's Dalian New Shipyard, the company's principle path to expansion will be based around a very different strategy of restructuring of production processes. Four or five ship assembly plants would be built in Dalian, Bohai, Shanghai, Tianjin and Quangdo City, and yard work more a block assembly operation.

Such subtleties would be hard to discern from afar, and it was only through talking to senior shipbuilding executives that it emerged that each group also sees shipbuilding in very different terms.
CSSC, for example, sees itself being streamlined, concentrating on a core shipbuilding activity.
CSIC, in contrast, sees its future in a diversified strategy, not least building on the activities of 38 subsidiary marine engineering concerns, where shipbuilding contributes around 65% of current turnover.

Date: 2003-12-01