Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, the largest privately managed shipbuilding company in China, is continuing to expand.
Over the next two years, a new shipyard will be built on the banks of the Yangtze at a cost of around 3bn yuan (US$413m). The more than 860,000m2 site is located in the city of Jingjiang, just a few kilometres upstream from Shanghai, and will cover 1.3 km of the Yangtze. It is adjacent to the existing Jiangsu Yangzi Xinfu Shipbuilding yard, which belongs to the same company and will occupy about 60% of the site. Xinfu had delivered 12 container ships worth US$1.3bn last year.
Yangzijiang focuses on environmentally friendly ships
In the future, the new shipyard will primarily build ships that run on alternative fuels such as LNG. As reported by The Edge Singapore magazine, the capacity is six shipbuilding orders per year worth between US$850m and US$1bn and 800,000 dwt.
The investment continues the expansion of Chinese shipyards, which are responding to the large volume of newbuildings ordered. According to market reports, the number of active shipyards has risen by more than 17% in the last two years.