China proposes changes to ‘white list’ shipyard policy

China’s ministry of industry and information technology released a statement on Thursday asking for opinions on its proposed new guidelines to the ‘white list’ of shipyards.

Under the proposed changes to the policy, the listed yards will be removed if they have not delivered ships, received new orders, started construction on a new ship for more than one year. And those yards that have suspended operations, declared bankrupted, and entered into debt restructuring will be strike off the list as well.

The ministry also proposed that once a yard has been removed from the list, it is unable to apply to be on the list within the next two years.

The ‘white list’ of shipyards was announced back in September 2014, and the status would allow the shipbuilders to benefit from prioritised policy support and access to domestic bank loans, giving a much-needed boost to running their operations.

To-date, there are 71 Chinese yards on the ‘white list’, but seven have either declared bankrupt or suspended operations. The seven yards are China Huarong Energy (former Rongsheng), Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering, Mingde Heavy Industry, Sainty Marine, Jiangsu Eastern Heavy Industries of JES, Zhenghe Shipbuilding, and Zhejiang Shipbuilding.

Another four ‘white list’ state-owned yards of China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC) – Dalian Shipbuilding Industry, Shanhaiguan New Shipbuilding, Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding and Wuchang Shipbuilding – are currently going through a merger process.