#文章首发挑战赛#
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Text: Praise and praise are on the way
Edit|Zanzans are on the way
South Korea's shipbuilding industry has been sluggish in recent years, and after being overtaken by China, the Korean media has not yet come out of the haze, grandstanding and arrogant about shipbuilding order data. But just when South Korea was complacent, China once again struck a domineering blow, winning the world's largest order for Qatar's 271,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, with a unit price of billions of dollars, completely eclipsing South Korea. This is nothing less than another heavy blow to the South Korean shipbuilding industry, and it also indicates that the gap between the strength of the shipbuilding industry between China and South Korea will continue to widen. Industry insiders bluntly said that relying on the endorsement of China's super-large orders fully proves the leading position of China's shipbuilding technology, and it is difficult for South Korea to match it for the time being.
As a global shipbuilding leader, China Shipbuilding Group has won a series of large orders this month, among which the order for a 271,000 cubic meter LNG ultra-large carrier from Qatar is the most eye-catching. This is the world's largest single LNG ship order so far, with billions of dollars and a total of 18 ships, which can be called a new record in the shipbuilding industry.
Why does Qatar attach so much importance to cooperation with China? How has the gap in strength between China and South Korea's shipbuilding industry widened? In fact, this big gamble stems from the superposition of many factors.
First of all, in terms of order size, the total capacity of 18 LNG carriers of 271,000 cubic meters exceeds 4.86 million cubic meters, far exceeding the capacity of the conventional LNG fleet. Secondly, these ultra-large vessels have many black technologies, not only the carrying capacity is increased by 57%, the speed is faster, the energy consumption is lower, and the carbon intensity is 23% lower than that of conventional ships, which is fully in line with the trend needs of future shipping development.
More importantly, China's shipbuilding technology and technical strength have become a leader in the industry that cannot be ignored. Chinese shipyards are in a global leading position in the fields of hull design, new material application, and intelligent manufacturing, especially in green environmental protection and intelligence, which has effectively guaranteed the smooth implementation of the project.
In contrast, South Korea's shipbuilding industry, although its order volume surpassed that of China in the latest quarter, mainly relied on price wars. According to data released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, in the first quarter of this year, South Korea's shipbuilding industry received new ship orders of US$13.6 billion, an increase of about 40% over the same period last year, but far less than the amount of ultra-large LNG carrier orders won by China in the same period.
It is not difficult to find that although the number of orders of South Korean shipbuilders has temporarily surpassed, it has gradually drifted away in terms of shipbuilding technology and innovation ability, which has formed a clear contrast with China. The intensification of this trend is largely due to differences in national industrial policies.
In recent years, the Chinese government has vigorously supported the development of strategic emerging industries such as green environmental protection and intelligent manufacturing, and has worked with enterprises to overcome a series of core technical problems, which has boosted the wide application of scientific and technological innovation in the field of shipbuilding, thus completely changing the traditional price game pattern.
At the same time, Chinese shipbuilders are also actively exploring new models such as modular design and equipment localization, which greatly reduces manufacturing costs and improves the ability to guarantee the delivery cycle. Therefore, even in the era of low prices, the profit margins of Chinese shipbuilders are relatively high, and they have more investment in scientific research and the momentum of continuous innovation.
On the other hand, the predicament of South Korea's shipbuilding industry stems more from its own institutional obstacles. For a long time, South Korea's shipbuilding industry has a high degree of monopoly, overcapacity, low efficiency, lack of innovative thinking and other problems have become increasingly prominent, coupled with the difficulty of internal reform of enterprises, the lack of strong institutional mechanisms, resulting in the lack of endogenous power for innovation and development.
Looking to the future, the changes in the pattern of shipbuilding industry in China and South Korea are a foregone conclusion. Optimistically, this record-breaking order will further stimulate the crisis awareness of the South Korean shipbuilding industry, strive to save itself, accelerate the pace of reform and innovation, and catch up with China in the field of high-end products.
However, from a pessimistic point of view, if the South Korean shipbuilding industry rests on its laurels and stagnates, the leading edge of Chinese shipbuilding enterprises in the fields of green and intelligent ships and core technologies will become more and more significant, which will not only lead the formulation of new international shipping standards, but may even be far ahead of South Korea, forming a new industry monopoly pattern.
Therefore, South Korean shipbuilding enterprises should promote the innovation of systems and mechanisms in a timely manner, give full play to the joint efforts of the government and enterprises, increase investment in scientific and technological research and development, improve product quality and added value, and strive to establish a leading position in the field of high-end ships and maintain the competitive advantage of the local shipbuilding industry.
This incident quickly aroused heated discussions among netizens on the Internet, and some netizens believed: "This time China won the super-large order of Qatar LNG ships, which is tantamount to a heavy blow to the South Korean shipbuilding industry and caught South Korea off guard." South Korea had over-interpreted the data before, boasted about it, and was slapped in the face by China, which was really self-inflicted. "
Some netizens also believed: "Although South Korea has temporarily surpassed China in the number of shipbuilding orders, the quality and technical content are obviously inferior to China." This time, China not only won the world's largest single LNG ship order, but also these vessels use the most advanced technology, which completely highlights China's leading shipbuilding technology. It may be difficult for South Korea to revitalize its shipbuilding industry in the short term. "
Some netizens believed: "The world is changing, and the hegemony of traditional shipbuilding powers will also be broken." In the future, whether China or South Korea will become the new shipbuilding hegemon depends on who can adapt to the new situation of the industry and master the core technology. For now, China is on the right path, while South Korea is likely to be left behind if it does not step up the pace of innovation. "
In general, China's 271,000 cubic meter LNG ultra-large ship order from Qatar this time not only effectively refutes South Korea's misinterpretation of the data with practical actions, but also indicates that the balance of strength between China and South Korea's shipbuilding industry will be reversed. As the winner of the times, China is striving to occupy the commanding heights of global shipping development and lead the future development direction of green and intelligent ships.
If the Korean shipbuilding industry rests on its laurels and adheres to the traditional line, it will inevitably drift away and it will be difficult to remain invincible in the future competition. From the perspective of implementing the concept of green development and giving full play to the advantages of independent innovation, this campaign can be regarded as a major milestone in the road of China's shipbuilding to rejuvenation.
In this critical period of industry change, whoever can seize the opportunity and grasp the right to speak will be able to ride the wind and waves and become a winner. How China and South Korea will navigate this wave in the future? We will wait and see.