Chinese Rig Builders Form Alliance

Seven Chinese shipyards have formed an alliance to share rig building resources.

The China Offshore (Deepsea) Industry Alliance, was established on December 28, 2016, and includes Yantai CIMC Raffles, Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company (ZPMC), Cosco (Qidong) Shipyard, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS), China Merchants Heavy Industry (Shenzhen), Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Offshore and Cosco Shipyard.

The yards are all on the Chinese government’s November 2015 White List. Rig builders are required to invest at least two percent of their annual revenue on new design and technology to stay on the list.

The alliance issued a statement saying: “With the development of the Chinese deepwater drilling equipment as our guiding principle, we will, through the combination of industry, academia, and research, promote the technological advancement and industrialization of deep-sea engineering equipment, and to build the image and branding of our industry in China.”

The initiator of the alliance, China Cosco Shipping Group, will be the first governing company of the alliance which will be supported by various research institutions, universities, equipment suppliers and banks.

The offshore and marine equipment sector is one of the 10 industries nominated in the country’s Made in China 2025 strategy. However, last year, Chinese yards suffered from a lack of orders, and rig production has slowed. In 2015, there were no new orders for the semi-submersible drilling rigs globally and only three orders for jack-up drilling rigs.