Dalian climbing up world ranking

Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Corp, China’s biggest shipyard, upped its rank to number four in the world in terms of orders in hand which it attributes to a combination of technical innovation and an expanded product range.

Strong domestic and overseas demand was a source for the ship plant’s new orders, 70% of which is for export. Because of its high product quality and competitive prices, current order volumes mean Dalian Shipbuilding has a full order book until 2011. Current yearly revenue reached $1.60 billion and is expected to top $2.66 billion by the end of 2010. After the shipbuilder succeeded in building China’s first VLCCs for Iran, it was committed to self-innovation and to challenging Korean and Japanese dominance.

Dalian Shipbuilding introduced skilled technicians and set up a sophisticated work platform for employees which helped to reform ship design planning and management and strengthen the shipyard’s ability in research and development.

According to a Bloomberg report, China overtook Japan as the world’s second-biggest shipbuilding country, after South Korea, this year. Chinese shipyards are furthermore beginning to focus on more complex and pricier carriers in a bid to tap the high added value ship types such as LNG carriers.