On July 28, the Nantong Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology announced on its official website the capacity replacement plans of three shipbuilding companies: “Capacity Replacement Plan of Jiangsu Watts Energy & Engineering Co., Ltd.”, “Capacity Replacement Plan of Qinshi Jiamei Energy Technology (Nantong) Co., Ltd.” and “Capacity Replacement Plan of Jiangsu Hantong Changyang Intelligent Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd.”, aiming to promote the development of new quality productivity in shipbuilding and offshore engineering, and inject new impetus into the upgrading of regional shipbuilding and offshore equipment industries.
According to the public announcement, the 400,000 deadweight tonnage shipbuilding capacity of the former Nantong Dongxin Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Nantong Dongxin Shipbuilding Heavy Industry”) will be reduced and replaced at a ratio of 1.25:1, with a replacement capacity of 320,000 deadweight tonnage, which is specifically divided as follows:
- Upon application by the Qidong Municipal People’s Government, 30,000 deadweight tons will be used for the technical transformation project of the green high-tech clean energy equipment base of Jiangsu Watts Energy & Engineering.
- Upon application by the Management Committee of Tongzhou Bay Demonstration Zone of Nantong City, 80,000 deadweight tons will be used for the high-end ship design and production base project of Qinshi Jiamei Energy Technology (Nantong).
- Upon application by the Qidong Municipal People’s Government, 210,000 deadweight tons will be used for the green new energy ship and high-end marine engineering equipment manufacturing and repair base project of Jiangsu Hantong Changyang Intelligent Equipment Manufacturing.
Public information shows that Nantong Dongxin Shipbuilding Heavy Industry is a medium-sized shipbuilding company invested and built by Nantong Dongxin Heavy Industry Development Co., Ltd. Founded in 2008 with registered capital of 100 million yuan, it was once the largest shipbuilding company in Nantong’s Gangzha District. However, due to a debt crisis caused by insufficient capital reserves and high financing costs, Nantong Dongxin Shipbuilding Heavy Industry was forced to cease production in 2013.
In December 2014,Wuxi Xiexing Port Machinery Co., Ltd. afiled for bankruptcy liquidation of Nantong Dongxin Shipbuilding Heavy Industry on the grounds that the latter was unable to repay its matured debts and its assets were insufficient to settle all debts; in 2015, the People’s Court of Gangzha District initiated bankruptcy liquidation; in 2020, the shipyard began to be demolished and was completely demolished at the end of June; on November 10, 2020, the shipyard was included in the abnormal business operations list by the Nantong Municipal Market Supervision Administration, and its license was revoked on June 28, 2021.
Jiangsu Watts Energy & Engineering was established in September 2008, initiated by Shanghai Watts Gallop Holding Group. Locate at the Qidong Marine Industrial Park, it covers a total area of 660,000m² with a total investment of 2 Billion RMB. Also it has set up an engineering technology center in Shanghai (Cryolobe Gas Technology Co., Ltd.).
The company provides innovative oil & gas storage and transportation solutions and large special equipment for the global natural gas energy, petrochemical and offshore engineering industries. Its products include ultra-large LNG\LEG\LPG\LCO2 gas carrier cargo tank, fuel tank and cargo handling system, LNG fuel gas supply system, LNG gasification module and large wind farm equipment, petrochemical pressure vessels, port machinery equipment and so on. It also provide professional ship repairing and retrofit services to the shipping industry.
The technical renovation and expansion project of Watts Energy’s Green High-tech Clean Energy Equipment Base has a total investment of 500 million yuan (including 1.94 million yuan for environmental protection). The main project includes increasing one new ship repair dry dock and one new 2,000-square-meter insulation workshop. A mooring pier will be built 10 meters downstream of the outfitting wharf, extending the outer berth length from 545 meters to 570 meters, enabling it to accommodate one 100,000 DWT and one 70,000 DWT empty bulk carrier. The inner berth length will be extended from 507 meters to 532 meters, allowing it to berth one 70,000 DWT and one 50,000 DWT bulk carrier. After the renovation, the total length of the wharf berths will be 1,102 meters, including 565 meters for the outer berth and 527 meters for the inner berth. Once completed, the project will have an annual ship repair capacity of 180 vessels (equivalent to 13.5 million deadweight tons).
Qinshi Jiamei Energy Technology (Nantong) was established in November 2022. It is a joint investment by Qinshi Group Co., Ltd., one of the controlling shareholders of Bestway Marine & Energy Technology, and Jiangsu Jiamei Offshore Engineering Equipment. It is a professional manufacturing company mainly engaged in offshore engineering platforms, wind power intelligent and high-end equipment.
Jiangsu Hantong Changyang Intelligent Equipment Manufacturing was established in February 2025 with a registered capital of 1 billion yuan. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jiangsu Hantong Group.
The Jiangsu Hantong Changyang Green New Energy Shipbuilding and High-end Offshore Equipment Manufacturing and Repair Base project occupies a total land area of approximately 927 mu, with a planned construction area of approximately 433,000 square meters. The base will primarily include production buildings and supporting facilities, including a block shop, outfitting shop, painting room, tank workshops, warehouse, storage yard, and roads. The project will also include an 80,000-ton pier with a total shoreline length of 1,357 meters. Upon reaching full capacity, the project will have an annual output of over 100,000 tons of high-end offshore equipment.