BEIJING - China
exported 357,964 ships valued at at total US$3.4
billion during the first half of 2006, a jump of
66.8% year-on-year. By contrast, China exported
215,761 ships valued at $4.7 billion in 2005. Ship
exports amounted to the equivalent of an average
monthly income of more than $500 million by value,
presenting a strong momentum of growth, according
to Chinese customs statistics.
At the same
time, the country imported 2,393 ships valued at
$250 million, an increase of 36%. The ship trade
surplus reached $3.15 billion.
Three
models of ships dominated China's exports in the
first six
months of this year: power
container vessels with a capacity of less than
6,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) whose
export value totaling $736 million; power
bulk-good vessels with a capacity of less than
150,000 tonnes, whose export value totaled $678
million; and oil-products tankers with a capacity
of less than 100,000 tonnes, whose export value
totaled $519 million. Total export value of the
three models reached $1.933 billion, accounting
for 56.9% of the country's total export of ships.
China also exported other models of ships,
including power bulk-good ships with a carriage of
150,000-300,000 tonnes, other non-power models of
cargo ships and cargo-passenger ships,
multi-purpose power ships, crude-oil tankers with
a carriage of less than 150,000 tonnes, and
non-navigation-type ships such as lighting ships,
fire ships and lifting ships. Export of these ship
types each exceeded $100 million.
China
exported ships to 112 countries and regions in the
first half of this year. Exports to Germany
amounted to $514 million, and to Singapore $466
million. Other major markets included Hong Kong, the Marshall
Islands, Malta, Australia, Japan, Panama and
Britain, each with an export value exceeding $100
million.
In the first half of this year,
China had 484 enterprises exporting ships,
including the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co
Ltd, which ranked first with $428 million. Other
major Chinese ship exporters included the Foreign
Economy and Technological Cooperation Co of the
China Changjiang National Shipping Group, the
Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co Ltd, the
Guangzhou Shipyard International Co Ltd, the
Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Co Ltd, and the Nantong
COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co Ltd.
In the
first half, the country imported 10 power
bulk-goods ships with carriage capacity of less
than 150,000 tonnes, valued at $127 million. These
accounted for 50% of the country's total ship
imports. Major ship models imported included mud
diggers, power fishing ships, fish-processing
ships, ships for unloading and their floating
structures, and liquefied-petroleum-gas vessels
with carriage capacity of less than 20,000 cubic
meters.
China imported ships from 29
countries and regions, including Japan, South
Korea, Croatia, Germany, Spain and Romania.
In January-June, China had 163 enterprises
importing ships. Among them, eight had imports
exceeding $10 million. The top eight's imports
totaled $189 million, accounting for 76.9% of the
country's total. The top three importers were
COSCO international Trade Co ($46.80 million), the
China Shipping International Trade Co Ltd ($35.81
million), and the China Communications Import and
Export Corp ($22.75 million).
The main
importers were all state-owned enterprises, with
total imports amounting to $200 million,
accounting for 81.8% of the total, up 53.1% year
on year. Imports of non-governmental and
foreign-funded enterprises accounted for 15.5% and
2.7% of China's total ship imports, respectively.
Meanwhile, officials said China needs to
expand its supertanker fleet drastically to
safeguard its oil supplies.
China is now
the world's second-largest crude-oil importer, and
imports account for 43% of its consumption. But
more than 90% of its oil imports are currently
transported by foreign oil tankers, according to a
report by the Shanghai Securities News. The setup
is both economically and strategically unsound, it
said.
China has begun to build a strategic
petroleum reserve, but a strategic transport
system is equally important, the newspaper said.
Li Lianzhong, an official with the Central
Policy Research Institution, said, "To safeguard
the security of national oil supplies, at least
50% of crude imports must be transported by our
own supertankers."
Citing Japan as an
example, he said Japanese ship owners have more
than 20 million tonnes of supertanker capacity,
equal to 80% of their annual oil imports.
According to the report, Chinese
authorities are aware of the issue and will draft
a preliminary plan after consulting major oil and
shipping companies. The plan calls for a
75-million-tonne-capacity Chinese supertanker
fleet by 2010, which will be expanded to 130
million tonnes by 2020.
China is the
world's third-largest shipbuilding country and
faces no particular technical difficulties in
building supertankers, or very large crude
carriers (VLCCs). Chinese shipping companies are
already expanding their supertanker fleets. China
Shipping Group, a leading shipping company,
recently ordered four VLCCs from the Dalian
shipyard in northeastern China.
DNV, the
Norwegian classification agency, said in its
report that Chinese shipping companies will order
at least 50 VLCCs in the next five to six years.
Some orders have already been placed with
shipyards in Japan and China.
