South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries may soon face stiff competition in the shipbuilding industry after China launched its own bid to introduce a new player to challenge Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd.
China's two state-owned shipbuilding companies are in talks to join up in an effort of the government to consolidate industries in the state sector, Cai Xing Global reported.
The two companies are China State Shipbuilding Corp. Ltd. (CSSC) and the China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. (CSIC). The CSSC's subsidiaries announced that the merger will have their parent company restructure its assets to accept the merger. This was revealed on July 1, or 20 years after the two companies split from each other.
During the separation, each part of the company accounted for 49% of the shipbuilding or repair work coming from different Chinese companies, as well as 20.85% of work orders from foreign clients.
As for their assets, when combined, the CSSC's assets of $43.71 billion and the CSIC's controlled assets of $70.8 billion will become $116.34 billion.
China's shipbuilding industry is brilliant as ever, it seems. China also unveiled the world's first intelligent Very Large Crude Carrier, capable of carrying more than 2.257 million barrels.
According to Oil Price, the vessel will be christened New Journey and will be delivered to China Merchant Energy Shipping Co., in Dalian.
The vice chief engineer for Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. said that the vessel is an answer towards promoting intelligent navigation for the industry. It also helps in building the blueprint for intelligent technologies fitted into ships, which will, in turn, improve traffic safety on the seas as well as emission reduction geared towards green technologies.
The vessel will have a collection of features aimed toward making navigation easier. Some of these are assisted autopilot on navigation, AI-assisted liquefied cargo management, energy efficiency management, assisted equipment operation and maintenance, and integrated ship-to-shore communication.
This is a big help toward the oil industry in China, the world's largest oil importer with more than 20% of imports. It is currently in negotiations with oil-producing countries Angola, Iraq, Oman, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. China is likely to import crude oil as it pours these steadily into refining capacity over the next couple of years.
Observers noted that the merger is meant to allow these companies to meet with the high demand coming in from the fuel transport segment, where vessels that can haul liquefied-natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are in huge demand.
