Xinhua reports that China's second largest shipping conglomerate, Shanghai-based, China Shipping Group, plans to enter the newbuilding market by the end of 2008.
China Shipping Group's six current yards, situated in Shanghai and Guangzhou, are limited to ship repairs, ship conversions and hull maintenance.
However ground for a new shipyard has already been broken in the Yanjiang Development Zone of Jiangdu in east China's Zhejiang Province. It will cover an area of 187 hectares and stretch 3,500 meters along the coastline.
China Shipping Group plans to bring annual production capacity of the yard to 1.5 million deadweight tons over a period of three years.
Xinhua notes that is the second time in less than two months that a major centrally-administered state-owned enterprise has branched out into shipbuilding.
In March, the Shanghai Baosteel Group Corp., China's largest steel producer, jointly invested 10 billion yuan (about US $ 1.3 billion) with China State Shipbuilding Corporation to build the country's largest shipbuilding base at the estuary of the Yangtze River.
China Shipping Group's six current yards, situated in Shanghai and Guangzhou, are limited to ship repairs, ship conversions and hull maintenance.
However ground for a new shipyard has already been broken in the Yanjiang Development Zone of Jiangdu in east China's Zhejiang Province. It will cover an area of 187 hectares and stretch 3,500 meters along the coastline.
China Shipping Group plans to bring annual production capacity of the yard to 1.5 million deadweight tons over a period of three years.
Xinhua notes that is the second time in less than two months that a major centrally-administered state-owned enterprise has branched out into shipbuilding.
In March, the Shanghai Baosteel Group Corp., China's largest steel producer, jointly invested 10 billion yuan (about US $ 1.3 billion) with China State Shipbuilding Corporation to build the country's largest shipbuilding base at the estuary of the Yangtze River.