China’s ministry of industry and information technology has announced the first batch of a ‘white list’ of Chinese shipyards, which are supposedly regarded as reputable shipbuilders.
A total of 51 shipyards have been ‘white listed’, the ministry announced, coming from various provinces and including both state-owned and private enterprises.
Among them, 10 subsidiary yards of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) and five subsidiaries of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) made it to the list.
Some better known names under CSSC include Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, Guangzhou Shipyard International, Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding, and Shanghai Shipyard.
Those under CSIC include Dalian Shipbuilding Industry, Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, and Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry.
China Cosco Group saw four of its yards made it to the list while China Shipping Group and Sinotrans & CSC Group contributed one yard and two yards, respectively.
Jiangsu province, one of China’s leading shipbuilding province, boasts 13 listed privately-owned shipyards, the largest number among the various provinces. Some of the Jiangsu yards include New Yangzi Shipbuilding, New Century Shipbuilding, Jiangsu Rongsheng Heavy Industries, Taizhou Kouan Shipbuilding, Hantong Ship Heavy Industry, Nantong Mingde Heavy Industry, Sainty Marine, and Taizhou Sanfu Ship Engineering.
Zhejiang province saw seven of its yards listed, including Jinhai Heavy Industry, Yangfan Group, and Zengzhou Shipbuilding.
The list also included four yards from Shandong province, two each from Fujian province and Jiangxi province, and one from Liaoning province.
Industry observers had expected the ‘white list’ to be released towards the end of this year.
Ren Yuanlin, executive chairman of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, whose New Yangzi Shipbuilding is in the list, said that the ‘judges’ of the list are fellow shipyards and competitors. “The state-owned yards will assess the privately-owned yards and vice versa. All of us have to open our books to our fellow competitors during the assessment process,” he said.
“We see this as a learning process where Chinese yards can use this opportunity to improve our operating structure, management system and yard facilities,” Ren believed.
There are approximately 87 leading yards in China and more yards are expected to be added to the ‘white list’, though the final figure is yet to be determined.
“Rather than ‘black list’ yards that are unable to perform, China has instead chosen to ‘white list’ yards that are able to meet shipbuilding requirements by owners locally and globally,” Ren said.
China’s shipbuilding industry is undergoing a consolidation phase to remove surplus capacity as the market suffers from a downturn. The recession has led to a widespread shut down of bottom-rung and speculative yards, bringing the total number of active yards to around 700 today from more than 3,000 at the start of 2010.
