60% of ships repaired in China! The Japanese government is elevating its “repair dependency” on overseas maintenance markets, particularly China, to a national security issue.
On June 24, the Japanese government held a “Japan Growth Strategy Meeting” and published a draft roadmap for public-private investment, designating shipbuilding and marine environmental technologies as key areas among 17 strategic fields, planning a total investment of approximately 1.2 trillion yen (about 50.392 billion yuan) from both government and private sectors by fiscal year 2035. One key policy is to promote the development of ship repair capabilities, with plans to invest approximately 100 billion yen (about 4.209 billion yuan) to systematically strengthen domestic ship repair and shipbuilding capacity.
The roadmap explicitly states the goal of building a “maritime industry chain that does not rely on other countries,” achieving the strategic objective of “building ships that transport energy in Japan, and completing maintenance and management within Japan and in friendly nations,” thereby enhancing national energy security and economic security capabilities.
Currently, approximately 93% of the repair work for ocean-going vessels owned by Japanese shipping companies is completed overseas, with only about 7% undertaken domestically in Japan. Within the overseas repair market, Chinese shipyards hold a share of over 60%, making them the primary repair destination for Japanese shipowners.
For a long time, Chinese shipyards, leveraging lower labor costs, a comprehensive industrial support system, and sustained policy support, have been able to undertake large vessel repair business at competitive prices. At the same time, China possesses numerous large repair docks and a mature workforce of repair technicians, capable of meeting the repair needs of various large vessels.
In contrast, Japan’s domestic ship repair industry has continuously contracted under a prolonged market downturn. Many shipyards have scaled back operations or even exited the market, leading to a shortage of large repair docks, a lack of skilled workers, and limited repair capacity. Based on cost and efficiency considerations, Japanese shipowners have long preferred to choose Chinese shipyards for repairs.
From the perspective of the Japanese government, this high degree of dependence on a “specific country” constitutes a potential economic security risk, thus enhancing the resilience of the maritime industry chain has been placed on the priority agenda.
According to the roadmap, Japan plans to invest approximately 100 billion yen in public and private funds in the ship repair field by fiscal year 2035, focusing on three main areas:
First is expanding repair infrastructure and dock capacity. Japan will focus on building and expanding dedicated repair facilities for high-value-added vessel types such as car carriers and LNG carriers, while also adding key equipment like large cranes to enhance the domestic capacity to undertake repair work for large ocean-going vessels.
Second is promoting digitalization and intelligent upgrades. To alleviate labor shortages and improve repair efficiency, Japan will actively introduce advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotic automation, while also promoting the digitization and standardization of repair experience to restructure the technical inheritance system.
Third is ensuring the repair needs of government vessels related to national security. In recent years, with changes in the regional security environment, the repair demand for Japanese government vessels has been growing. Japan plans to expand domestic repair capacity to ensure 100% localization of government vessel repairs, while avoiding government vessel repairs crowding out commercial vessel repair resources, establishing a stable repair system that balances both military and civilian needs.
At the same time, Japan recognizes that it is difficult to fully bring all repair work back domestically in the short term. Therefore, the roadmap proposes strengthening cooperation with friendly nations, building a network of overseas repair bases in regions such as Southeast Asia and the United States based on major shipping routes, creating a dual-guarantee system of “domestic repair capacity + overseas friendly nation repair network.”
Furthermore, Japan also plans to seize the technological high ground in next-generation green ships. The roadmap proposes focusing on the research, development, and construction of ammonia-fueled vessels, aiming to be the first to establish a standardized design system for ammonia-fueled ships and compete for global orders; simultaneously, it will advance the development of hydrogen-fueled and methanol-fueled engines, building relevant ship construction capabilities domestically to lay the foundation for the future zero-emission ship industry.
