CSSC becomes number three

The China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) became the world’s third largest shipbuilding conglomerate last year, behind Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries and Japan’s Imabari Shipbuilding Company.

CCSC, which ranked fifth in the world in 2005, finished manufacturing 103 new ships for civil use, about 6.02 million deadweight tonnes in total, last year, accounting for 43% of China’s total output and 8.2% of the world’s total. The company currently holds orders worth more than 150 billion yuan ($19.3 billion), amounting to 30 million dwt in total, the second largest, behind Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Even its two shipbuilding bases under construction, i.e. Changxing in Shanghai and Longxue in Guangzhou, have orders in hand involving seven million dwt dry cargo vessels and four 308,000 dwt VLCCs.

CSSC, parent company of 60 subsidiaries covering ship building, ship repair, research and development and offshore engineering, posted a profit of more than five billion yuan last year, more than 60 times that of 1999 when it was established. The Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Company, one of its subsidiaries, is China’s largest dockyard and delivered ships totaling 3.12 million dwt last year.

The group’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) ship with a capacity of 47,200 cubic metres, a flagship product with proprietary intellectual property rights, is due to be delivered in the end of 2007. Another four such LNG vessels are under construction while the research and development for LNG ships with a capacity of 200,000 cubic meters is underway.

By 2015, CSSC hopes it can grow into the world’s largest shipbuilding conglomerate and turn China into the largest shipbuilding power.