Chongqing’s three-year plan of shrinking down yard facilities is in response to the protracted slump of the shipbuilding industry, marked by excessive capacity and slowing demand in an oversupplied shipping market.
During the good times of shipbuilding, Chongqing boasted a shipbuilding capacity of 1.6m dwt, before falling to 1.1m dwt at the end of last year.
The Chongqing government has affirmed that yards with inadequate and backward facilities would need to shut down, while new orders should be concentrated in the hands of the leading yards.
Being a landlocked province, there are hardly any notable or sizable private shipbuilders. State-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC) has a coupled of Chongqing-based yards including Donggang Marine Industry and Chuandong Shipbuilding Industry.
The local authorities are also pushing for a reform of the shipbuilding sector to move towards greater automation and intelligent manufacturing, as well as a higher focus on R&D and even non-shipping products like railway tracks and bridges.
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