On September 25, the signing and commencement ceremony for the Yizheng Ship Supporting Industrial Park was held. Wang Jinjian, Secretary of the Yangzhou Municipal Committee of the CPC, and Deng Renjie, Deputy General Manager of China Merchants Group, attended and delivered speeches.
The Yizheng Ship Supporting Industrial Park aims to be an “Exceptional Grade Smart Factory,” with a total investment of approximately 5 billion yuan and a total planned land area of about 900 mu. Upon completion, China Merchants Industry Jinling Shipyard will be able to construct all types of /roll-off ships, 6000TEU new energy-powered container ships, and liquid cargo ships of up to 100,000 tons, achieving an annual output of nearly 20 ships and an annual output value of 10 billion yuan.
In his speech, Wang Jinjian, on behalf of the municipal committee and government, expressed his warm congratulations on the event and extended a sincere welcome to the guests. He pointed out that in recent years, Yangzhou has anchored itself to the main course of building a famous industrial and scientific innovation city, vigorously developing a modern industrial system with “6 clusters and 13 chains” as the backbone. As one of the three major shipbuilding bases in Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou is joining hands with Nantong and Taizhou to accelerate the creation of a world-class advanced manufacturing cluster for ship and marine engineering equipment with global influence. It has formed a “ship enterprise sector” represented by well-known central enterprises such as China Merchants Jinling and China Merchants Dingheng, delivering a number of “blue sea heavy equipment” that are “world-firsts” and “China-firsts,” including the world’s largest car carrier. Last year, the output value growth of Yangzhou’s shipbuilding industry chain ranked first among the 13 emerging industrial chains, accelerating towards a 500-billion-yuan industrial cluster.
Wang Jinjian stated that China Merchants Group is a century-old central enterprise spanning transportation and logistics, comprehensive finance, scientific innovation industries, and other fields, and has maintained long-term close cooperation with Yangzhou. The signing and construction of the Yizheng Ship Supporting Industrial Park marks another milestone in the mutual pursuit between the “famous enterprise” and the “famous city.” Yangzhou will uphold the utmost sincerity and provide optimal services, working with China Merchants Group across all fields and throughout the entire process—including industrial collaboration, innovation synergy, project construction, and resource sharing—to seize global market opportunities and create a new model of central-local cooperation. He hopes that shipbuilding upstream and downstream enterprises and supporting enterprises, led by China Merchants Group, will choose Yangzhou and invest in Yangzhou, helping to expand and strengthen the shipbuilding industry in Yangzhou and Yizheng, continuously enhance the core competitiveness and brand reputation of “Yangzhou ships,” and jointly forge a “deep blue engine” for the development of new quality productive forces.
In his speech, Deng Renjie stated that China Merchants Group is currently vigorously promoting the high-end, intelligent, green, and international transformation of traditional industries and accelerating the development of new quality productive forces. The smooth progress of the Ship Supporting Industrial Park project is inseparable from the strong support and efficient services of the local government. Aiming for an “Exceptional Grade Smart Factory,” China Merchants Group will focus on building industry benchmark workshops for block manufacturing, outfitting parts production, pipe processing, and painting operations, accelerate the cultivation of high-tech enterprises, and help Yizheng build a characteristic ship supporting industrial cluster. Furthermore, the project will strictly adhere to “green and low-carbon” requirements, ensuring the industrial park becomes not only a “growth engine” for the local economy but also a “popular project” satisfying the public.
It is understood that China Merchants Industry Jinling Shipyard has two major sites in Nanjing and Yizheng. The Yizheng site’s predecessor can be traced back to the former Zhenjiang Shipyard of the Jiangyang Shipbuilding Group. It was restructured into Jiangsu Jinling Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. in 2001, renamed China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. in April 2020, and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Nanjing) Co., Ltd.
China Merchants Industry Jinling Shipyard is a core member of China Merchants Industry for building /roll-off ships. Its core product, the “/roll-off ship,” has been selected as a national manufacturing “single champion.” It has led the global /roll-off ship manufacturing sector for many consecutive years and is the domestic /roll-off ship manufacturer with the earliest construction, the most deliveries, and the most comprehensive product types.
In July this year, China Merchants Industry Jinling Shipyard returned to the container ship construction market, receiving an order from Singaporean shipowner Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) for a total of six 1800TEU container ships. It is understood that the last time Jinling Shipyard received a container ship order was in 2021, when Zhonggu Logistics ordered a total of eight 4636TEU container ships, which were delivered between 2023 and 2024.
In September, China Merchants Industry Jinling Shipyard secured an order from ElbFeeder for 2+2 new-generation 2280TEU dual-fuel container ships. Additionally, it successively received orders from EPS and UK shipowner Zodiac Maritime for five 6000TEU container ships each, breaking its own record for container ship construction. Prior to this, the largest container ship built and delivered by Jinling Shipyard had a capacity not exceeding 5000TEU.
