In the first half of 2024, the global demand for shipping capacity rose significantly again, and the shipbuilding industry in Zhejiang Province continued to maintain a good development trend. The three major shipbuilding indicators of shipbuilding industry completion, new orders and hand-held orders continued to grow significantly, of which the number of new orders received was close to the total number of new orders received in 2023.

Overall Operation of 1. Industry

In the first half of the year, the shipbuilding industry in Zhejiang Province continued to maintain a good development trend. Completed ships 2.794 million deadweight tons, up 59.6 percent year-on-year, of which completed export ships 1.641 million deadweight tons, up 63.6 percent year-on-year. New orders 7.004 million dwt, up 86.2 percent year-on-year; new export orders 5.722 million dwt, up 104.5 percent year-on-year; and hand-held orders 15.66 million dwt, up 54.1 percent year-on-year. The completion volume, new orders and hand-held orders of the shipbuilding industry in Zhejiang Province accounted for 11.2, 12.9 and 9.1 of the national share respectively, ranking third, fourth and fifth respectively in the country, accounting for a steady increase in the national share.

(I) from the sub-sector. Shipbuilding, ship repair, ship support and offshore equipment manufacturing in Zhejiang Province accounted for 45.1 per cent, 32.2 per cent, 8.5 per cent and 7.3 per cent of the output value, respectively (see figure below). Shipbuilding export output value and ship distribution export output value increased by 34.3 and 65.1 respectively year-on-year under the strong pull of export orders. The ship repair industry also continued to maintain steady growth, with the total output value and repair export output value increasing by 21.5 and 34.5 respectively year-on-year, and the contribution rate to the province's output value has gradually stabilized at more than 30% in the past three years. Offshoring equipment manufacturing has continued its strong development momentum for nearly two years, with an output value increasing by 356.5, the share of the province increased by 5.2 percentage points over the same period last year.

1-6, 2024, Zhejiang Province, the proportion of ship segmentation industry.

(II) in terms of regional development. Zhoushan City, the main gathering place of ship repair and construction enterprises in the province, saw the three major shipbuilding indicators of ship completion, new orders received and hand-held orders increase by 91.4, 105 and 110.2 respectively year on year, accounting for 58.5, 80.1 and 78.0 respectively in the whole province. The total output value and completion of Taizhou's shipbuilding industry have maintained year-on-year growth for five consecutive years, and the orders held by key shipping enterprises have basically been arranged until the end of 2025. The contribution rate of the ship-to-ship industry in Ningbo and Hangzhou to the province's ship-to-ship subdivision industry has remained above 75% for five consecutive years.

(III) from the perspective of industrial clusters. The two core areas and three cooperative areas of the "high-end ship and offshore equipment industrial cluster" have maintained a high level of contribution to various statistical indicators of the province, with the completion volume, new orders and hand-held orders increasing by 70.4, 94.8 and 67.8 respectively compared with the same period last year, accounting for an increase in the province's share year by year. The three major shipbuilding indicators of the province's top ten shipbuilding enterprises accounted for 82.1 percent, 93.6 percent and 89.9 percent of the province, respectively.

Main characteristics of 2. industry operation

The (I) ship structure is more optimized, and the new energy ship market is steadily expanding. In the first half of the year, the structure of new orders received in Zhejiang Province showed new changes: first, with the improvement of international environmental protection requirements and the rapid iteration of new energy technology for ships, orders for new energy-powered ships increased steadily. From January to June, orders for new energy-powered ships were 2.747 million deadweight tons, accounting for 39.2 of the total new orders received in the province, a new high in nearly three years, keeping pace with the national trend. New energy ships will become an important growth point for the shipbuilding industry in Zhejiang Province in the next few years. Second, the three major ship types in the new orders-bulk carriers, container ships, and oil tankers accounted for 35.5, 34.6, and 27.3, respectively, showing a pattern of "three parts of the world". In sharp contrast to the situation that bulk carriers are "outstanding" and have long accounted for more than 80% of new ship orders in Zhejiang Province, it shows that Zhejiang Province's shipbuilding is gradually moving out of the low-end and developing into high-tech and high-value-added ships.

(II) ship repair tends to be high value-added, and breakthroughs have been made in repair and modification technology. The high-value modification business for the purpose of energy saving and carbon reduction increased significantly, which in turn drove the operating income of the ship repair segment to increase by 19.5 over the same period last year. The leading companies in the ship repair industry continue to seek innovation in new energy ship repair and modification technology, and frequently make breakthroughs. For example, Zhoushan COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry has completed the repair of the world's largest LNG dual-fuel container ship. Zhoushan Pacific Marine Engineering Completed Methanol Dual-Fuel Refitting of the World's First Container Ship; Zhejiang Wanbang and Zhoushan Xinya have successively completed energy-saving and carbon-reducing modifications to traditional freight ships, including the installation of advanced equipment such as air lubrication and drag reduction systems and air shrouds.

The renewal of (III) equipment has been accelerated, and the innovation vitality of shipping enterprises has been further enhanced. At present, the demand of various shipbuilding enterprises to improve production efficiency and improve production conditions is becoming more and more urgent. It is understood that in the first half of the year, 22 shipping enterprises in the province plan to carry out large-scale equipment renewal and technological transformation, which mainly focus on the upgrading of old production equipment with high energy consumption and high pollution, environmental protection equipment and digital transformation. Government departments at all levels in Zhejiang Province actively guide enterprises to strengthen research and development, carry out technological innovation and product upgrading, which further stimulates the innovation vitality of shipbuilding enterprises and improves the modernization level of the industry.