On June 10, the long-planned overall relocation and reconstruction project of Damen Yichang Shipyard ushered in important progress. The “Damen Yichang Shipyard Yidu Green Smart Ship Manufacturing Relocation Project” entered the public announcement stage.
The project has been approved for filing, with an estimated total investment of RMB 450 million (approximately US$63 million), of which RMB 25.53 million (approximately US$3.5538 million) is invested in environmental protection.
The Damen Yichang Shipyard Yidu Green Smart Ship Manufacturing Relocation Project is located in the Yidu Green Smart Ship Industrial Park. Damen Yichang Shipyard will relocate the entire production line originally located on Xiba Island in Xiling District, Yichang City, and lease the factory building of Yichang Chantou Dajiang Industrial Park Operation Management. The new shipbuilding base will be put into production based on the factory buildings and supporting infrastructure of the Yichang Chantou Dajiang Industrial Park Operation Management (Yidu) Green Smart Ship Industrial Park.
The construction content and scale of the base: new ship construction and supporting projects such as conversion, maintenance, and equipment steel structure manufacturing and other supporting projects, with an annual steel consumption of 60,000 tons. Upon completion, the base can build ships with maximum length of 150m, maximum breadth of 32m and maximum weight of 6,800 tons with a shoreline of 1,170 meters. It is expected that in June 2025, the construction of the whole plant and supporting infrastructure will be completed.
It is reported that the overall relocation of Damen Yichang Shipyard began three years ago. In January 2022, the People’s Government of Xiling District, Yichang City officially issued a document requiring the shipyard to stop production and start the relocation plan before December 31, 2023, and complete the relocation work before December 2025.
In April 2023, the People’s Government of Yichang City decided that Yichang Damen Shipyard must complete its overall relocation and stop production at the original site. Through technological iteration and transformation and upgrading, it will continue to contribute to the development of Yichang’s shipbuilding and export earnings.
As of December 31, 2024, all projects of Yichang Damen Shipyard originally located on Xiba Island, Xiling District, Yichang City have been shut down and are awaiting relocation.
After the relocation, Damen Yichang Shipyard’s ship building and repair tonnage will be upgraded to 15,000 tons, with an annual construction capacity of 24 CF3850-class ships, 20 CF5000-class ships and 12 CF13500-class ships. The new base will adopt an “enhanced” design platform, and after optimized design, the fuel efficiency of newly built ships is expected to increase by 30%. The Damen Triton remote monitoring system will be installed to provide real-time fuel usage and carbon emissions data.
In addition to the new technology, which can be retrofitted to use hybrid power in the future, these cargo ships can operate exclusively on biofuels, with the option of installing wind-assisted propulsion technology, in compliance with the latest International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations and port state requirements.
Damen Yichang Shipyard was founded in 1998 by Damen Shipyards Gorinchem and Yichang Shipyard. The yard specialises in building combi-freighter cargo vessels from 8,000 to 15,000 dwt – working with Damen’s proven designs to guarantee quality, reliability and fast delivery times. On an annual basis, the yard consumes some 50,000 tonnes of steel – typically building between nine and twelve vessels a year for the export market.
It mainly undertakes foreign shipbuilding orders, and the types of ships it builds are mainly river-sea direct cargo ships, inland bulk carriers, LNG combination carriers, and ordinary combination carrierss, as well as new energy ships such as lithium-powered cruise ships (official boats) and lithium-powered unmanned boats.