[YCC Weekly E-News] Transport & Climate Change (2012-01-09)

City News:

Fuzhou: to Launch 300 Clean Energy Taxis (2012-01-05)

 

On Dec 18, during the establishment ceremony of the Fuzhou Huarong Clean Energy Development Co Ltd, 100 clean energy taxis were debuted. This ceremony was held at the Huawei Urban-Rural Passenger Transportation Terminal.

Fuzhou’s acting Mayor Yang Yimin announced the debut of the clean energy taxis’ running in Fuzhou. This event marked the full-scale initiation of Fuzhou’s project for clean energy Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) taxis.

It was reported thatFuzhouwould put into operation 300 Hyundai 1.8-liter double-fuel clean energy taxis at the end of this year and would establish four CNG refueling stations and three clean energy taxis service stations.

According to theFuzhoumunicipal government’s planning,Fuzhouwill build 30 gas refueling stations in the central urban areas and a clean energy vehicle modifying plant. With the completion and the running of the four CNG refueling stations,Fuzhouwill build another 20 CNG refueling stations in three to five years.

Source: http://www.vecc-mep.org.cn/eng/news/news_detail.jsp?newsid=47132

 

Dandong: Focuses on People’s Livelihood (2012-01-05)

Dandonginvested 1.27 billion yuan ($201.3 million) in social services, accounting for 79% of all the government spending from January to November in 2011. The money benefited the locals’ livelihoods through catering, clothing, accommodation and transportation.

The Dandong Municipal Bureau of Finance raised 100 million yuan for the renovation of trunk roads, streets and bridges. Another 240 million yuan was given for road expansion projects and the construction of two new subway lines this year.

Nearly 7 million yuan was provided in subsidy to public transport, enabling students and senior citizens over 70 years age to enjoy discount tickets. The government also bought 100 liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueled low carbon emission buses.

In addition, footpaths for exercising were built along theYaluRiverand inJinjiangMountain. These included pavilions, fitness equipment and other facilities, promoting both scenic sightseeing and fitness tourism in the city.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/m/liaoning/dandong/2012-01/05/content_14387093.htm

 

Beijing: More Rental Bikes, Subway Lines to Ease Congestion (2012-01-06)

Beijingwill offer residents 20,000 rental bikes this year to ease the city’s notorious traffic jams, according to authorities with the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform. Five hundred rental kiosks will be set up around the city to offer residents over 20,000 rental bikes, the commission said.

Beijinghas also proposed creating new bike lanes in some areas, including main streets, historical and cultural conservation areas and some major business districts, from 2011 to 2015, according to the commission.

The capital city currently has about 5 million vehicles on its roads, leading to serious traffic congestion that frustrates the city’s residents on a daily basis.

“A lack of bike lanes is the reason why I refuse to ride a bike. Bikes and vehicles are using the same lanes, and that frightens me and makes me feel unsafe,” saidBeijingresident Song Tao. People often park cars on the city’s existing bike lanes, pushing cyclists onto the vehicles’ lanes, said Song.

To ease traffic congestion, Beijinghas made various efforts to encourage people to opt for modes of public transportation.

On Dec 31, Beijingopened three new subway lines, bringing the number of subway lines in Beijing to 15, with a total length of 372 kilometers, said Beijing Metro Spokesman Jia Peng.Beijing will open four more subway lines in 2012, according to information released at a rail transit construction mobilization conference.

Amid other measures to ease traffic in 2011, city authorities decided to allow only 240,000 vehicles to be registered annually, slashing the new car registrations by two-thirds from the 2010 level.

Meanwhile, vehicles are banned from roads one day each week according to license plate numbers.

Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-01/06/c_131346925.htm

 

Shanghai: Motorists Warned of Month-Long Traffic Woes (2012-01-06)

Drivers are feared to face extreme congestions this month cruising local roads due to combined influences of the cold weather, the Spring Festival travel peak as well as changes caused by some major traffic projects, said the city traffic watchdog.

One influence will be caused by ending of toll collection on the Shanghai-Jiading Expressway. The road also named S5 is the oldest highway facility on Chinese mainland. In response to mounting appeals which has lasted for nearly a decade, local government had announced it finally toll free to all vehicles starting January 1.

The road authority feared the big “toll-free” attraction will push up traffic by up to 40% during peaks among the recent months. The prediction is proven by the long lines of sedans, buses and trucks this morning on S5 on the first work day since the toll removal.

The highway authority said traffic started to peak at around 7:40am and soon vehicles were seen lining up for more than one kilometer in front of the entry booths. Traffic pressure did not ease until 9am, bringing an extra 20% turnover volume compared to previous morning rush period, authority said.

“The highway was operating close to full capacity on daily basis and congestion was already serious. Drivers are now feared to run into further prolonged wait time to pass this highway because of the sudden traffic hike stimulated by the new toll policy,” said Yan Jionghao, director with Shanghai Highway Administration.

As more out-of-town vehicles will be attracted, the ordinary local roads in the nearby region will also be placed under heavier pressure. Traffic between the Outer Ring Road and theQilianshan Roadis estimated to suffer the heaviest influence.

And some links diverting traffic from the highway to other parts of the city such as the Fengxiang and Bao’an roads would also come under difficult traffic condition, authority estimate.

The highway authority advised local commuters to take detours if possible to avoid running into traffic jams along S5, which is feared to last for months.

Some traffic-easing measures have also been taken. The automatic bars before the toll gates have been adjusted to move faster. The time for the bars to rise to pass each vehicle is improved from 1.4 to 0.3 seconds now, which translates into a 20% rise in traffic turnover speed, said the highway authority.

Although drivers don’t need to pay toll fees anymore, they currently still need to stop the toll booths on both ends of the highway to collect and return an empty pass card. The trouble can be cleaned after next April when the related toll stations are all removed from the highway.

“After the toll booths are relocated, we will also start an expansion project to add two car lanes to the current four-lane driveway in order to boost its traffic capacity,” said Li Zheliang, an engineer with the highway administration. Li said heavy congestion along S5 would last for about one year before the expansion construction was completed.

The road opened to traffic in 1988 with a government investment of 230 million yuan (US$36.4 million). With many residential complexes springing up in the suburban district and automobile industry operations booming in Jiading’sAntingTown, workers and residents have been increasingly complaining of what they call an “ungrounded daily traffic expense.”

Minimum toll on other local expressways was also eased from 10 to 5 yuan on January 1. The construction commission also said the reconstruction of downtownJiangningRoadBridgeacross the Suzhou Creek would cause the festival travel peak even more demanding. Closure of the vehicle bridge would continue to produce heavier jams on downtown Changde and Changhua roads, the commission said.

The commission officials said local constructors were speeding up some small construction projects involving road digging and aiming to have such operations all completed before January 10 to reduce impact on local traffic.

The Spring Festival mass migration will peak from January 18 to 22 and from January 30 to February 22, said local traffic authority. Millions of people will rush home to spend the Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival, with their families, putting a great pressure on traffic system. The volume of travelers is expected to hike from January 8 and the peak season will last until February 16.

Authorities estimated that 29.33 million people will travel by rail, air and road, and 15.56 million will travel within the city, up 6% and 2% from last year.

Source: http://www.vecc-mep.org.cn/eng/news/news_detail.jsp?newsid=47159

 

Nation News:

Rail E-Ticket Sales Get Off-Track (2012-01-03)

 

People planning trips home for the upcoming Spring Festival, which begins on Jan 23, may have been pleased to learn of the railways’ new online ticket booking, but excitement has turned to frustration as huge Web traffic paralyzes the system, which at times cannot issue tickets already paid for.

InShanghai, a college student named Yang wrote in an online forum that he paid more than 200 yuan ($32) for a ticket, but the booking website failed to place his order. He tried a second time and was successful, but he had to pay again, and he will have to wait to get that extra money back. At least a dozen posts on online forums detail experiences similar to Yang’s. Many other posts said the railway’s telephone ticket hotline is easier to use and more reliable.

Meanwhile, the crowds at train stations are growing. The number of people waiting to buy tickets at stations inGuangzhou(Guangdongprovince) has dramatically increased in recent days, according to Chinese media.

ChinaRailwayCustomerServiceCentertold on Monday it is trying to solve the problems and will return any extra payments within 15 working days.

A China Daily reporter logged onto the booking website, www.12306.cn, on Monday afternoon and tried without success to buy a ticket. The site was noticeably slower than before and responded “system busy” after an order was made for a ticket fromShanghai toGuangzhou. Later attempts got the same response.

“The problem is because the current online purchase policy requires buyers to pay for the tickets within 20 minutes of booking them. If the website gets the payment any later, the ticket is put back with the unsold tickets to be sold again,” the Ministry of Railways said on Monday.

Fan Yingshu, director of the transportation department of theBeijingRailway Bureau, said at a press conference on Friday that problems between banks and payment platforms caused the delay in payments. To prevent such problems, the ministry said on Monday it has been working on extending the payment time. Efforts are also being made to increase the traffic the website can handle by increasing its network bandwidth.

Online ticket sales are a new service the ministry introduced for this year’s chunyun – a period of heavy traveling around Chinese New Year when typically about 2 billion trips are made. The service is intended to spare many travelers the not uncommon experience of waiting overnight in the cold of winter in a line to buy train tickets.

But the system’s vulnerability has become a hot topic online.

“I was excited by the news at first, figuring it would make buying train tickets much easier. But now it seems the effort is just window-dressing,” said a netizen named “Acar”. Railway officials should have had the foresight to build a stronger system, anticipating the enormous demand the site would have to handle, Acar said.

In addition to online ticket booking, the ministry has also launched a real-name ticket system, aiming at preventing scalping. Passengers are allowed to buy only one ticket with one identity certificate, to prevent scalpers from stockpiling tickets for resale. The real-name ticket system was adopted in June for high-speed trains. Since Sunday, it has been put in use with all kinds of train services.

To ensure the real-name system is effective in stopping the scalping during chunyun, railway officials have decided to have ticket holders’ ID cards checked at the entrances of the rail stations in all major cities. But that will also add to the waiting time at train stations, which are crowded with travelers during chunyun.

Source: http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/690629/Rail-e-ticket-sales-get-off-track.aspx

 

China Launches Super-Speed Test Train (2012-01-04)

China’s largest rail vehicle maker, CSR Corp Ltd, over the weekend launched its first test train that features speeds reaching up to 500 km per hour.

The six-car train with a fair shaped head is the newest in the CRH series. It has a maximum tractive power of 22,800 kilowatts, compared with 9,600 kilowatts for the CRH380 trains currently in service on the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, which hold the world speed record of300 km per hour.

The grey-color train carrying testing and data processing facilities was designed and produced by CSR Sifang Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co Ltd (Sifang Locomotive), a CSR subsidiary based in the coastal city of Qingdao in eastern Shandong province.

Ding Sansan, the company’s chief technician, said the concept of the super-speed train design was inspired byChina’s ancient sword. The bodywork uses plastic materials reinforced with carbon fiber.

Shen Zhiyun, a locomotive expert and academician with both the Chinese academies of sciences and engineering, said the testing of the super-speed train with speeds of up to500 kmper hour will provide useful reference for current high-speed railway operations.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/m/qingdao/2012-01/04/content_14379475.htm

 

Diesel Shortage fuels Discontent (2012-01-05)

ChangshaCity: Hu Libing, 40, normally brings in 500 yuan ($79) for a 12-hour day driving a taxi inChangshafrom 6 am. But winter can be a chilly time of year, both in terms of temperature and income. His revenue may drop, some days, to “a little more than 200 yuan”. That doesn’t even cover his costs as he must pay 220 yuan daily to the taxi company.

A diesel shortage is the reason Hu loses money on those days. “I have to wait for two hours and even longer at the gas station to get refueled. And you are only allowed to buy 50 yuan worth of diesel. So I have to come back for another two hours in the afternoon,” he said. “In the worst scenario, I tried 10 filling stations and couldn’t get a single drop of diesel and was afraid of running out of fuel.”

The shortages are nothing new toChangshanor confined toHunanprovince. They first occurred in the winter of2003 inthe Yangtze River Delta and became widespread in the past few years in central, eastern, southern and southwesternChinaduring the peak season for diesel.

According to C1 Energy, an online information provider for the petrochemical industry, nearly half of the privately held filling stations and a quarter of the State-owned stations nationwide couldn’t ensure ample supplies last month.

As a result, more than 20 buses inChangshashut down for a couple of days in mid-December. Local media even reported that a funeral home inChongqinglacked sufficient diesel supply to meet the demands of cremation during the pinch period last year.

Bigger fuel tanks

While taxi drivers struggle in the provincial capital, long-haul truck drivers are desperate on the freeway.

China Daily visited the Pingjiang gas station run by China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec) along the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway on the evening of Dec 22. Thanks to a bailout by Sinopec, the situation had eased a little inChangshaand the Pingjiang station was providing diesel without limit.

Zheng Yonggang was thrilled to learn the news from his “old friends” on the road and had skipped several stations with long lines to get to this one. “It is not easy to find a filling station that doesn’t limit supply now. It seems I have to wait for two hours, but it is worth it,” Zheng said before excusing himself so he could call his boss to report the glad tidings.

Zheng, 39, was in the middle of a 4,000-km journey from Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in South China to theHeilongjiangprovince in the Northeast. He was transporting bananas. He originally planned to leaveNanningon Dec 20, but he couldn’t find enough diesel. “I had to fill the fuel tank before starting out. I can’t afford several days’ delay with the cargo. What I am carrying is fruit, not commodities,” he said.

After “taking full advantage of the local connections”, Zheng knew that one filling station could work out. He got up at 3 am the next day and waited for two hours before getting the diesel. “I could finally take the load off my mind for the time being and dared to load the bananas,” Zheng said.

Blame-worthy reasons

Several factors contribute to the struggles of truckers and taxi drivers:

The spokesman at Sinopec’sHunanoffice has said this year’s low water level in theXiangjiangRivercontributed to difficulty in transporting diesel to the region.

Last winter, electricity supplies were restricted in a bid to meet energy-intensity goals at the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10). As a result, many high-polluting and energy-intensive industries switched to diesel-powered generators to keep their businesses going.

Companies that supply diesel admit they limit availability early to ensure they have enough diesels during Spring Festival, when transportation peaks inChina.

But leading experts place most of the blame for the chronic problem on the government-advised pricing system for oil products and on the industry’s dominance by the top State-owned oil companies.

Intentions vs. market

InChina, the retail price of oil products is set by the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner. According to the “Methods for Oil Price Regulation” it issued in 2009, the commission adjusts the retail price when fluctuation in the average international price of crude oil within 22 consecutive business days exceeds 4%. On Oct 8, the commission announced it would cut retail prices for gasoline and diesel by 300 yuan a ton. It was the first price revision in 16 months.

Lin Boqiang, director of theChinaCenterfor Energy Economics Research atXiamenUniversity, said the policy shows the government’s “good intention” but goes against market rules. “It will affect the profit margins of the major refiners and has decreased their motivation to refine oil and offer diesel to the domestic market, especially when the international price of crude oil has remained at a high level,” Lin said. “To maximize their profit, the fuel dealers tend to hold back sales when they expect the government is about to raise fuel prices soon.” Read the full story at the link below:

Source: http://www.cs.com.cn/english/ei/201201/t20120105_3196411.html

 

Officials Weighing Green Benefits of Carbon Taxation (2012-01-06)

Chinais considering levying a carbon tax within the next three years to tighten its regulations on polluting industries and put the economy on a greener path.

A draft of a new system of taxation has been submitted by the FiscalScienceResearchCenterof the Ministry of Finance to the ministry for review. The plan would impose a tax on emissions of GHGs, Su Ming, deputy director of the center, said on Thursday.

Su said the tax is likely to be charged at a rate of 10 yuan ($1.59) for each ton of carbon dioxide that a business or other operation discharges. That rate is expected to increase gradually over time. The main targets of the tax will be large users of coal, crude oil and natural gas, and tax cuts will be given to companies that take steps to reduce their emissions, Su said.

Jiang Kejun, a researcher with the National Development and Reform Commission’s Energy Research Institute, who helped draft the tax proposal, said the tax is likely to be collected only from producers and wholesalers of fossil-fuel based energy. This will make it easier to collect the tax. “But it may still raise the price of energy,” Jiang said.

Chinaemitted 8.33 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 2010, a quarter of total global emissions, according to a report by the UK energy company BP PLC. During the Durban climate talks last year, China pledged to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced for each unit of GDP by 17% by 2015.

Even so, the recent Central Economic Work Conference determined that a greater priority should be placed on reforming the country’s tax system in 2012 and on researching the possible effects of imposing taxes to protect the environment.

“But 2012 may not be a good time to introduce carbon taxes, considering the risk (they might introduce) of slowing economic growth,” Su said. He said the taxes will begin to be collected by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15).

“The carbon tax will bring many benefits,” Jia Kang, who heads the finance ministry’s research center, was quoted as saying by the Economic Information Daily. “One is to raise companies’ environmental costs and force them to improve their production technology.”  Meanwhile, the additional revenue from a carbon tax will make it easier for the government to lower other sorts of taxes imposed on businesses, such as income taxes, he said.

Lin Boqiang, director of XiamenUniversity’s ChinaCenterfor Energy Economics Research, said there are still details to be decided about the plan. “Unlike the measurement of pollutants, carbon emission can be found in all parts of the value chain,” Lin said. “So a tracking system will have to be established to carry out the plan.”

Late last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said that indexes measuring emissions of GHGs and power consumption will be published periodically as a test this year.

Lin said there are still disputes over the ratio for the proposed tax. He said environmental protection authorities are calling for 20 yuan to be charged for each ton of carbon dioxide emitted.

He said the tax should not be viewed as way of raising money. “The carbon tax should be a means of cutting emissions rather than a source of fiscal revenue,” Lin said.

Su with the finance ministry still supports the introduction of a carbon tax even though its burden may be transferred to users in the end. “It is time to let people know they have to pay for what they use,” Su said.

Source: http://www.ccchina.gov.cn/en/NewsInfo.asp?NewsId=30846

 

EU Emission Tax May Trigger Aviation Trade War (2012-01-06)

The European Union (EU)’s newly-introduced Emission Trading System (ETS) might trigger trade rows between major economies, experts warned on Thursday.

According to Chris Goater, spokesperson of International Air Transport Association (IATA), the US Senate is mulling over a bill that would direct US Department of Transportation (DOT) to prohibit US airlines from participating in the ETS. A similar bill was already passed by the US House of Representatives. The Senate’s bill, if passed, would merge with the House’ bill into one and would be presented to the president, Goater told. “Assuming the President signed the bill into law, it potentially sets up a contest of wills between theUSand EU, with US airlines in the middle,” he said.

In the meantime, China Air Transport Association also said that its members would not cooperate with the ETS, whilstIndiatoo signaled intentions to sabotage EU’s effort.

“This is no longer an environmental debate, it’s a political debate,” continued Victoria Moore, general manager for communications of the Association of European Airlines.

RETALIATIONS AND WORRIES

“TheUShas noted that more than 43 countries have indicated their opposition to aviation’s inclusion into the EU’s ETS,” said Goater. “There are still a lot of anxious and upset countries who really want to push this further. So, we could still see further retaliation, we could still see further court cases,” he warned.

In December 2011, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sent a letter to several European Commission officials threatening to take “appropriate action” if the EU did not back down on its decision.

IATA is calling for all sides to negotiate at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which is working on a framework for a global scheme for addressing aviation carbon emissions.

“One single global scheme is needed to effectively tackle emissions and help aviation reach its goals of carbon neutral growth from 2020, and a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 compared to 2005 levels,” Goater said.

The EU, in the meantime, stood firm in upholding its decisions. “The EU will just continue with the implementation of the legislation and we only expect all countries to respect our legislation,” EU Climate Action Commissioner’s spokesperson Isaac Valero Ladron told.

In fact, the EU is planning to extend the ETS to other sectors of transportation such as shipping. “After long years of inaction at international level, the EU will address shipping emissions next year. We have not yet decided whether this will be under the ETS or we will impose a levy or a bunker fuel,” Ladron said.

Source: http://en.ce.cn/World/biz/201201/06/t20120106_22977895.shtml

 

A Nation on the Move during Holiday (2012-01-06)

Authorities said ensuring safety is the main task during the Spring Festival travel period as the transportation system nationwide braces for a tough test. China’s annual Spring Festival travel rush will begin on Sunday, and authorities estimate 3.158 billion passenger journeys will be made during the 40-day travel period.

Passenger flow will increase by 9.1% from last year and “the fact that the New Year holiday and the Spring Festival fall close together will further toughen the challenge,” said Liu Tienan, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, in a nationwide video and teleconference on the Spring Festival rush.

Feng Zhenglin, vice-minister of the Ministry of Transport, stressed the need for measures to ensure road safety, after a road accident inHunanprovince claimed 13 lives on Tuesday and another inGuizhouprovince on Wednesday claimed 18 lives.

The Spring Festival, which begins on Jan 23, is consideredChina’s most important traditional festival, and people nationwide will travel for family reunions. Major passenger traffic will rush fromBeijing, the Yangtze River delta and thePearl Riverdelta before the festival. After the festival, pressure on the transportation system will increase in provinces with a large number of migrant workers.

The Ministry of Railways warns train service may fall short of demand. Hu Yadong, railways vice-minister, said 2,064 temporary trains will run daily to meet the increasing demand, and the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway will run for a longer time each day. More measures will be taken to counter the problems the railways’ new online ticket booking system has encountered due to huge Web traffic.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China estimates 34.88 million passenger trips will be made during the 40-day period, a 7% increase from last year. The authority vows to further improve the punctuality rate of flights, assuring they will take off in no more than 30 minutes after the cabin doors close. For passengers fromTaiwan, the aviation authority will arrange another 412 flights during the festival.

Authorities warn of road accidents caused by drivers breaking travel regulations and freezing and snowy weather conditions during the Spring Festival. The State Administration of Work Safety says that 90 percent of the major road accidents in the past five years were caused by overloading, speeding, and overtired or wrong-way drivers.

Source: http://english.eastday.com/e/120106/u1a6296463.html

 

Enterprises:

CNR Expects 2011 Profit up 50% (2012-01-06)

 

China CNR Corporation Limited (CNR), one of China’s state-owned train makers, said Friday it expects to see a net profit surge over 50% in 2011 from a year earlier, on the country’s booming railway and metro construction.

The company’s net profit will thus reach around 3 billion yuan ($476.12 million) in 2011, as CNR posted a profit of 1.91 billion yuan in 2010.

The train maker attributed the revenue growth to the “continuously rapid development” ofChina’s railway and urban rail system in 2011, in its statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The profit estimate came despite the company’s recall of a raft of trains after a deadly accident last summer. On July 23, a high-speed train rammed into a stalled train near the city ofWenzhouin the easternprovinceofZhejiang, leaving 40 dead and 191 injured.

The company recalled 54 trains it supplied for the high-speed rail betweenBeijingandShanghaithree weeks later. All the trains resumed service in December, after three months of modifications and repeated tests, according to the Ministry of Railways.

Source: http://english.cntv.cn/20120106/115494.shtml

 

Shipbuilding Firm CSIC on course Despite Stormy Market (2012-01-06)

Despite tough conditions in the global shipping market, China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC), one of the country’s major shipbuilding conglomerates, maintained steady business last year, said a company official.

To cope with market conditions, the company will dedicate more resources to producing offshore oil and gas exploration equipment, said Wang Liang, director of the production and management department.

The company estimates that its revenue last year rose to 160 billion yuan ($24 billion) from 142.5 billion yuan a year earlier. Profit is estimated to have risen more than 10% year-on-year to 10 billion yuan. Analysts said the figures represent a sound performance amid a dull market.

Last year was a rough one for the global shipping industry. Affected by the European debt crisis, the world economy didn’t recover sufficiently to shore up trade flows. Also, surging fuel prices and a glut of vessels depressed the profits of shipping liners. Industry data show that more than two-thirds of shipping companies across the world reported losses.

Shipbuilders, at the end of the industry chain, were the last to be affected. Small shipyards were hit hard as new orders were mainly for the more sophisticated vessels that only big shipbuilders have the technology to produce, analysts said.

Consequently, the number of new orders declined. From January to November last year, 33.69 million deadweight tons (DWT) of new vessels were ordered from Chinese shipyards, down 47.3%.  In November alone, 3.94 million DWT were ordered, down 60%, according to the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI). Industry losses were widespread. For the January-October period, Chinese shipbuilders reported total losses of 3.03 billion yuan, up 40.6%, according to CANSI. More than 15%of shipbuilding companies inChinareported losses in 2011, “a large increase from last year”, said CANSI.

This year “will be the most difficult for the Chinese shipping industry”, Zhang Shengkun, president of theShanghaiSociety of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, said at a recent industry forum inShanghai.

But for CSIC, the weak market is an opportunity to adjust its product structure, Wang said. In 2012, the company will focus on developing more sophisticated vessels, while trying to enter new markets, such asBraziland theMiddle East, he said. Wang said CSIC would devote more resources to non-marine products, such as equipment for offshore oil exploration and wind power facilities, to reduce business risks. The company has nine orders for offshore oil-drilling platforms. “We intend to make the business of non-marine manufacturing account for more than 40% of our total revenue in 2012,” Wang said.

Source: http://www.china.org.cn/business/2012-01/06/content_24339263.htm