Recently, in the operation area of Rongcheng Jinghai Group Yuantong Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. in Rongcheng City, Shandong Province, the bustling shipbuilding scene formed a sharp contrast to the cold weather. Nearly a hundred workers were busy and orderly in the operation area, with various types of fishing boats packed closely together. On the dock of the shipyard, two newly built fishing boats were docked, and a dozen workers were engaged in interior decoration on board. "In a few days, these fishing boats will be launched," said Lian Renfu, Director of Infrastructure Department of Jinghai Group and Deputy Commander of the expansion project construction headquarters of Yuantong Shipyard. The shipyard's shipbuilding orders have been scheduled until the end of 2013, with customers not only from within the province but also from places like Fujian.
Yuantong Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. is affiliated with Jinghai Group, a "time-honored" fishery enterprise. After achieving leapfrog development and growth, the group has extended its industrial chain and created new economic growth points. The company covers an area of 1,300 acres, with a port area of 2,000 acres and a deepwater outfitting dock of over 1,200 meters. It can manufacture more than 10 ships under 35,000 tons and over 120 various fishing boats annually, and can repair over 280 ships under 25,000 tons annually. On October 26th last year, Lian Renfu and dozens of workers were engaged in the final finishing work, marking their achievement of a high record in the Rongcheng fishing boat building industry, where two pairs of fishing boats are launched every month.
An experienced worker repairing a ship in the operation area explained that before the expansion of the shipyard, the outfitting dock of Yuantong Shipyard was relatively small, with only seven small docks ranging from 3 to 5 meters in length, which could not meet the requirements for repairing and building large cargo ships. Since 2009, after nearly three years of efforts, the expansion project of Yuantong Shipyard, with a total investment of 400 million yuan, has been basically completed, two months ahead of schedule. Nowadays, a 1,200-meter deepwater outfitting dock, 12 shipbuilding platforms ranging from 1,000 to 35,000 tons, and a large transverse shifting area have been built in the hinterland of Yuantong Shipyard, accompanied by a 60,000-square-meter modern factory and workshop. Xu Yunchuan, Chairman and General Manager of Jinghai Group, said, "For an enterprise to gain sustained development momentum, it must fully leverage the leading role of key industries and promote the healthy development of the entire company's economic construction through mode transformation and structural adjustment." Pointing to the transverse shifting area that has been built and put into use, Xu Yunchuan explained that it can simultaneously repair more than 80 fishing boats and accommodate 28 fishing boats under 60 meters. This not only greatly improves the ability to repair fishing boats but also solves the problem of difficult ship repair during the fishing moratorium in Rongcheng. In addition, the 1,200-meter outfitting dock can meet the berthing needs of 50,000-ton shipbuilding outfitting and 30,000-ton ship repair, and ships can enter and exit the dock without being restricted by tidewater, which well adapts to the current development trend of large-scale fishing boat repair and building. Xu Yunchuan introduced that since the completion of the outfitting dock, Yuantong Shipyard's annual shipbuilding capacity has reached 200,000 deadweight tons, and the annual ship repair capacity has reached 180 ships under 30,000 tons. At the same time, Yuantong Shipyard's port has also been approved as an open water area. In this way, the shipyard can also undertake the repair of various foreign fishing boats from around the world, realizing the transformation from an inward service-oriented enterprise to an outward independent operation-oriented enterprise, and making Yuantong Shipyard a large-scale fishing boat repair and building enterprise in Shandong Province.
