China continues to expand its position as a leading shipbuilding nation, and not just domestically. The Yangzijiang shipyard acquires a stake in the Tsuneishi Group.
The Singapore-based company is China’s largest private shipyard group and the eighth largest in the world in terms of capacity. Through a joint venture agreement, the company is now acquiring a 34% stake in Tsuneishi Group (Zhoushan) Shipbuilding Inc. worth US$117m.
The two shipbuilding companies had already worked together before. The Jiangsu Yangzi-Mitsui Shipbuilding (YAMIC) shipyard is a former joint venture.
Tsuneishi is one of Japan’s leading shipbuilding groups and has a number of shipyard sites abroad, including in Zhoushan, China, and the Philippines. According to a press release, the two companies intend to exploit synergies in the future, including in the construction of dual-fuel ships and pressure tanks.
Three-quarters of all newbuildings from China
The power of Chinese shipbuilders is growing ever stronger worldwide. According to an analysis by BRS, shipyards in China accounted for 55% of all deliveries, 74.7% of newbuilding orders and 58.9% of the global order backlog in the first half of the year.
Eleven shipyards have now announced their intention to expand their sites. Experts estimate that this will increase total capacity by no less than 80% by 2027. To this end, some companies that had already been shut down have been reopened. At the same time, the number of active shipyards worldwide has fallen by 55% since its peak in 2007.
The increasing dominance of Asia is causing growing concern in Europe and America. In addition to the European shipbuilding association SEA Europe, the German association VSM has repeatedly warned of an approaching “tsunami”. The decades-long trend of a shrinking shipbuilding industry in Europe is a “dramatic security risk”, especially in view of possible conflict scenarios, according to VSM Managing Director Reinhard Lüken.
