On December 8, Wan Min, Party Secretary and Chairman of China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, held talks with Xu Peng, Party Secretary and Chairman of China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited (CSSC), in Shanghai. The two leaders jointly witnessed the signing ceremony for a new shipbuilding project cooperation agreement.
The signing ceremony covered a total of 87 vessels of various types, with a total contract value of approximately RMB 50 billion (equivalent to approximately US$7.075 billion). Among these, cross-border RMB settlements amounted to approximately RMB 47 billion ( approximately US$6.65 billion), setting two records in China’s shipbuilding industry: the highest single-contract value and the largest cross-border RMB settlement amount. This achievement provides a new model for diversifying the settlement currencies in China’s ship trade.
On the evening of December 8, China CSSC Holdings Limited, a listed company under China State Shipbuilding Group, simultaneously released an announcement titled “Notice on Major Contracts Signed by Subsidiary Companies.”
According to the announcement, all 87 new vessels will be constructed by subsidiaries of CSSC, including Jiangnan Shipyard, Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (DSIC), Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry, Guangzhou Shipyard International, CSSC Chengxi Shipyard, and CSSC Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding. The vessel types include ultra-large container ships, ultra-large bulk carriers, very large crude carriers, grain carriers, multi-purpose heavy-lift vessels, MR tankers, ro-pax vessels and small container ships.
It is reported that this new shipbuilding cooperation marks a milestone in the joint development of CSSC and China COSCO Shipping Group. By complementing each other’s advantages, the two parties are jointly implementing the strategic arrangements of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee on accelerating the building of a strong maritime country, fully demonstrating the mission and responsibility of central enterprises to “join hands for progress and strive for strength toward the sea”.
The global shipping and shipbuilding industries are currently undergoing profound transformation, with the deep integration of green, low-carbon solutions and digital-intelligent technologies emerging as key drivers of industrial development. CSSC continues to consolidate resources across the industrial chain, intensifying efforts in green and intelligent ship design R&D while expanding its global service network. This strategy builds an integrated service capability spanning design to manufacturing, production to after-sales, industrial operations to financial services, and front-end operations to platform solutions.
Looking ahead, CSSC and China COSCO Shipping will take this signing as a new starting point. They will continue to uphold the philosophy of “cooperative win-win and synergistic development,” deepening collaboration in areas such as technological innovation, green and low-carbon initiatives, smart ships, and intelligent manufacturing. Together, they will build a safe, efficient, green, and resilient global maritime transport system, injecting new momentum into achieving the development goals of China’s maritime and shipbuilding industries during the 15th Five-Year Plan period and accelerating the nation’s advancement toward becoming a maritime power.