Recently, China Merchants Industry Qingdao Shipyard Co., Ltd., a Chinese shipbuilder, announced its tender plans for a smart integrated workshop project.
According to publicly available information, the total investment in the Smart Integrated Workshop project at China Merchants Industry Qingdao Shipyard is approximately 1.005 billion yuan (equivalent to approximately $147 million). Located in the Tianheng Island Provincial Tourism Resort in Jimo District, Qingdao, the project will be developed into a digital and intelligent shipblock production base, helping to accelerate the development of Qingdao’s high-end shipbuilding and offshore engineering equipment industries.
The project covers a total land area of 147,068.25 square meters. With a total planned construction area of 69,000 square meters, Phase I will involve the construction of a 55,000-square-meter smart integrated workshop and related supporting facilities. Four new smart production lines will be installed, equipped with over 330 sets of various intelligent production devices to handle processes such as material cutting, machining, welding, and plate flipping. Once the project reaches full production capacity, it will have an annual output of 100,000 metric tons of ship blocks.
In addition to the smart integrated workshop project, China Merchants Industry Qingdao Shipyard’s Rushan base will also install several new pieces of lifting equipment, with a total investment exceeding 10 million yuan.
According to reports, the Rushan Base of China Merchants Industry Qingdao Shipyard is a high-end shipbuilding and offshore engineering equipment manufacturing facility established by China Merchants Shipbuilding Group in Rushan, Weihai. It serves as the core area for China Merchants Industry Qingdao Shipyard’s capacity expansion and intelligent infrastructure development.
According to the released crane procurement bidding announcement for the Rushan Base Project, the project plans to adopt self-raised funds of 11.65 million yuan for the procurement of 39 sets of lifting equipment. Specifically, Workshop No. 1 will purchase 16 sets of various gantry cranes with hoists; Workshop No. 2 plans to procure a total of 17 sets, including 16 sets of various single-girder electric hoist gantry cranes and 1 set of 20-ton electromagnetic gantry crane (with a net steel plate suction capacity of 20 tons); the outdoor area will be equipped with 3 single-girder gantry cranes and 3 double-girder gantry cranes, totaling 6 sets.
Since its acquisition and rebranding in 2025, China Merchants Industry Qingdao Shipyard has expanded its shipbuilding equipment and completed upgrades and renovations at the shipyard.
For example, China Merchants Industry Qingdao Shipyard has newly installed 50/100-ton and 50/70-ton gantry cranes, which will significantly improve the shipyard’s efficiency in both ship outfitting and construction; the upgrade, integration, and renovation of a 10,000-square-meter site east of the machining workshop have been completed and put into use, addressing key issues such as the shortage of storage space for outfitting materials and limited space for panel assembly.
China Merchants Industry Qingdao Shipyard, formerly known as the State-owned Qingdao Shipyard, was established in 1949. After being incorporated into the China Merchants Group’s shipyard network, it was renamed China Merchants Shipbuilding Industry Group Qingdao Shipyard Co., Ltd. It will serve as a construction base for the China Merchants Group’s three main ship types, with its primary products including bulk carriers, container ships, offshore engineering vessels, and other ship types.
China Merchants Industry Qingdao Shipyard covers an area of 750,000 square meters, with a 1,090-meter outfitting quay and a water depth of 8–11 meters. It features two dry docks of varying sizes: the larger dock measures 480 meters by 76 meters, and the smaller dock measures 180 meters by 28 meters; The yard is equipped with two 600-ton and one 150-ton gantry cranes, as well as over 2,000 sets of top-tier domestic production equipment, enabling an annual steel processing capacity of 150,000 tons and an annual shipbuilding capacity of 1.2 million deadweight tons.