Chinese ship company leads the future of shipbuilding tech

2018-07-27 15:45By： xinde marine news

“When I came to Shanghai 30 years ago, the first impression was the large population. There were very few cars on the street and bicycles everywhere. There was only one underground tunnel in the city, and some shipyards could be seen on the Huangpu River...” Claude Maillot said sentimentally.

For work reasons, Claude, chief executive for Marine & Offshore North Asia Zone and China of Bureau Veritas, a world leader in testing, inspection andcertification (TIC), was able to witness the earth-shaking changes that have taken place since Shanghai's reform and opening up. Thirty years ago, he was still working in Hong Kong but his company often sent him to the Chinese mainland to check on the operation of foreign ships.

A hundred year history with Shanghai shipping development

Bureau Veritas has a deep historical origin with Shanghai. Claude said that more than 100 years ago, Bureau Veritas set up a representative office on the Bund. The reform and opening up of China has brought more trade and the inspection demand for ships has also increased. Under this background, Bureau Veritas came back to China in 1993.

Claude added that in 1828, Bureau Veritas itself started as an information bureau for evaluating the risk maritime insurance should take.

In 1993, Bureau Veritas restarted its operations in China with marine activity, and thanks to reform and opening up, it could also develop other sectors of service such as inspection, classification and certification.

“Bureau Veritas is among the biggest foreign classification societies introduced by China. We have a lot of links with China Classification Society and cooperate within the international classification societies to improve ship inspection standards. Many cooperation, innovation and training agreements have been established between Chinese and foreign classification societies,” said Claude.

As Claude noted, in recent years Shanghai has built the Yangshan Deepwater Port, the world's largest intelligent container terminal, and has developed into one of the world's largest ports. In 2017, seven of the world’s top ten ports were located in China. The annual container throughput of Shanghai Port exceeded 40 million TEUs, the largest in the world. “Shanghai's R&D atmosphere is active, the innovation of the shipping industry leads the world, and the institutions serving the shipping industry are also developing rapidly. All of this makes Shanghai a key leader in the shipping industry and helps Shanghai to build an international shipping center,” said Claude.

Phase IV of the Yangshan deepwater port

When asked about his overall feeling about the city, Claude enthused,“I feel the vitality of Shanghai every day. All the people and the whole society are moving fast. Although many things have changed, everything is in order. The city is safe which is not the case in some areas in France. All this cannot happen alone. It is the demonstration of the implication and strategy of the government.”

Expecting greater contributions to China

Speaking of China’s reform and opening up, this gentleman is deeply touched. “I really consider that nowhere in the world has done as much as China and Shanghai in opening up the society and the market. This has required big reforms but also discipline, strategy, planning and courage sometimes.”

“China today is the world’s second largest economy. If it had been closed, it could not make this achievement. China is the world’s partner, and the world has benefited from the opening of China. China has also grown thanks to that. China has sent rockets to space and developed its own high-tech technology. Besides the second-to-none Yangshan deepwater port, China’s online paymentsy stemshas also led the world.”

“From what I have seen during these 30 years, I believe great things will again be done thanks to China. We shall see that the world will rely more and more on China.”

Claude’s expectation of China to deepen its reform and opening up

He talked about the development of Bureau Veritas in the Chinese market. “In 2014, Bureau Veritas set up its second advanced technology and research center in Shanghai. We hired highly skilled Chinese engineers to staff this research center. This was basically my initiative, which was supported by my group. At present, Bureau Veritas is developing new energy-saving, efficient and environmentally friendly vessels. Our strength could attract more French ship owners to build ships here. I think this may be what Bureau Veritas could give back to Chinese society.”

“Over the years, China’s shipbuilding industry has developed rapidly to be the top in the world. This is the great achievement China has made in the field of shipbuilding. China has once again achieved the development from zero to three.”

Indeed, it is well known that Korea was once number one in the shipbuilding industry. The country’s three major shipbuilders, including Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering were invincible. However, with the rapid development of China's shipbuilding industry, the center of the world's shipbuilding industry has turned to China.

In 2017, Claude(left) on behalf of Bureau Veritas issued an AIP certificate for the 210,000-ton dual-fuel bulk carrier of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co, Ltd.

Claude mentioned the latest 320,000-ton dual-fuel super-large oil tanker and 210,000-ton dual-fuel bulk carrier developed by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Co, Ltd, which he said demonstrated the company has made outstanding achievements in producing high-tech ships with independent intellectual property rights. These two types of vessels are the largest tonnage currently recognized by the classification societies worldwide.

As Claude said, Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. ranks among the top five in the world in terms of comprehensive strength. It is currently the most automated shipbuilding company in China with the most advanced facilities, enjoying the reputation of being China’s No.1 shipyard.

In line with the pursuit of environmental protection by Bureau Veritas, as a leading company in the shipbuilding industry, Waigaoqiao Shipyard has long been identified with this ideology and is at the forefront of the world in building environmentally friendly ships, leading the development direction of future shipbuilding technology. He praised the Capesize Bulk Carrier, an environmentally-friendly vessel independently developed by Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd, as beingthe “first brand” for Chinese ship exports with the largest market share in the international market.

As China has joined the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the resulting 0.5% sulfur emission limit in the global seas by 2020 comes into force, the development of green shipping is very important for China’s sustainable development. More than ten years cooperation with Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co. Ltd has allowed Claude to witness its great performance in green shipping.

The completion of the Shanghai International Passenger Transport Center terminal has also given rise to the cruise industry. Claude talked about Bureau Veritas’certification of China's first self- designed 36,800 gross-ton luxury cruise ship.“This marks a historic breakthrough in the design of luxury cruise ships in China and is an important milestone in the development of China's cruise industry.”

For the future, Claude is very optimistic. “The Belt and Road Initiative is bringing opportunities to us. It again gives rise to the development of trade between China and other countries, particularly those along the route to Europe and inside Europe. It will create needs for new infrastructure, such as trains and roads, all of which are related to our own activities of testing, inspection and classification, so this will foster the business development of Bureau Veritas in China.”

“Actually, there are 14,000 people working for Bureau Veritas in China. We used to say that China is the second home of Bureau Veritas, but it should be the first, because China has now become the largest operation center of Bureau Veritas, even larger than the French headquarters and the number of employees in China will grow even further.”

Speaking of the whole industry, he said, “When Bureau Veritas came back to China in 1993, there were only two or three foreign classification societies, but now there are eight or nine. In addition, the industry is undergoing reform. The Chinese maritime safety authorities are currently considering allowing foreign classification societies to provide classification services to Chinese flag vessels, which would give us more opportunities to help improve the quality of shipping equipment produced in China, build Chinese brands, and make greater contributions to Chinese society.”

Sources:Eastday

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Chinese ship company leads the future of shipbuilding tech

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