China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC) said on Thursday that the country’s first self-developed large dual-fuel RoPax ship – which is designed to transport cargo and passengers – for export, built by CSSC’s subsidiary Guangzhou Shipyard International Co, was delivered in Nansha in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province, according to CCTV News. Powered by both fuel oil and cleaner liquefied natural gas, the ship features fully independent intellectual property rights.
The delivery is more than just a single product launch; it demonstrates the solid industrial foundation and robust endogenous innovation that drive China’s shipbuilding sector.
From an industry perspective, the research and development (R&D) and delivery of dual-fuel ships precisely aligns with the global shipping industry’s green transition. With carbon neutrality goals becoming a global consensus, the demand for environmentally friendly vessels is becoming increasingly urgent. Chinese shipyards have precisely captured this market demand, leveraging years of accumulated technical expertise and innovation capability to achieve the independent development of such vessels.
In the field of environmental protection, China’s shipbuilding industry has made breakthroughs far beyond dual-fuel ships. It has also made progress in methanol-powered and ammonia-fueled ship technologies, positioning China at the forefront of the global industry’s green transformation.
The development not only represents an active response to global environmental trends but also highlights the comprehensive strength of China’s shipbuilding industry in terms of market insight, technology transformation and industrial collaboration. Such strengths stem from the persistent cultivation of factors across the entire industrial chain, including ship design, core component manufacturing, and production management. It is this solid foundation that has fostered a powerful endogenous innovation momentum within China’s shipbuilding industry, enabling it to continuously make breakthroughs.
China’s advantages in shipbuilding extend far beyond traditional measurements of scale. Through the synergy of technological capability, cost-effectiveness, and environmental advantages, the industry has developed an irreplaceable comprehensive competitiveness.
Supported by these advantages, China’s share of the global shipbuilding market continues to grow, establishing the country as an indispensable force in worldwide shipbuilding. From January to September this year, China’s share of the global market, measured by deadweight tonnage, accounted for 53.8 percent of completed output, 67.3 percent of new orders, and 65.2 percent of order backlogs.
By contrast, the US produces less than 1 percent of the world’s commercial vessels, the Financial Times reported in 2024. Given China’s continuous breakthroughs in shipbuilding, it is apparent that the gap between the two countries in the commercial shipbuilding field has not narrowed but continued to widen. In the face of this development reality, US attempts to suppress China’s shipbuilding development through unilateral measures appear particularly absurd.
Gaps do remain between China and traditional shipbuilding powers like Japan and South Korea in some high-end technologies, requiring continued efforts in core technology breakthroughs. Nevertheless, China’s shipbuilding industry is developing at an impressive pace: shipyards are continuously increasing R&D investment, enhancing the competitiveness of high-end products, and leveraging cost-performance advantages to rapidly narrow gaps with global competitors.
Over time, relying on a solid industrial foundation, strong innovation momentum and accurate grasp of global market trends, China’s shipyards will further consolidate and expand their advantageous position in the global shipbuilding industry. Source: Global Times
