A while ago, the news that China Hudong Shipyard won Qatar's $6 billion LNG ship order caused an uproar on the Internet, and many people were speculating how China bucked the trend and overtook South Korea to win the big order of the century.
According to Hong Kong media reports, Qatar Energy's Minister of Energy Affairs and President and CEO of QatarEnergy said that in the past, all Qatari ships were generally bought from South Korean shipyards, but now, in view of the expected size of ships and the increase in China's shipbuilding capacity, Qatar has decided to choose China.
Qatar doesn't give any face to South Korea! In one sentence, South Korea's shortcomings are exposed: low production and backward technology cannot meet Qatar's needs at all. In other words, this is to "bring goods" to our LNG,! But in the final analysis, iron striking still needs its own hardness, if it weren't for our large output and new technology, Qatar would definitely not choose us.
According to reports, Qatar spent $6 billion to purchase 18 LNG ships, designed and built by the mainland Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Company, the world's largest LNG ship, not only capacity up to 271,000 cubic meters, the speed is not slow, these two points are all energy companies value the most, the more loaded, the faster the run, the higher the efficiency, the faster the speed of making money, this account can be calculated, which is why Qatar handed over the second phase of its "100 ships plan" to Chinese shipyards.
However, in my opinion, Qatar's order is just a springboard for Chinese shipyards to enter the LNG ship market. As one of the world's main types of transport ships, LNG ships are much more technical than container ships and ro-ro ships, and only China and France have mastered the relevant manufacturing technology in the world, and the technology used by South Korea comes from France, which not only requires the authorization of French companies, but also imports key materials from France. China has not only mastered the construction technology, but even the materials are purely domestic, which is much more competitive than South Korea. Although we are still lagging behind South Korea in terms of market share, this is only temporary.
Because of the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the world energy market, the market share of pipeline natural gas has been declining, while the market share of liquefied natural gas has been rising, which means that LNG ship orders will usher in a wave of climax, LNG ships are in short supply, and who has a large production capacity now, who can eat more orders, so if it is more than production capacity, who in the world can compare with China?
With Qatar's order as a "living signboard", Hudong Shipyard is not worried about whether it can get the order, but whether the dock in its hand can eat enough orders. This issue requires attention.
Previously, the Hudong-Zhonghua No. 2 dock of China Shipbuilding Changxing Shipbuilding Base, the grand occasion of four LNG ships in one dock was shocking to the world, but compared with the scale of the entire market, four ships are only an insignificant part, and the most important thing is that the shipyard is also one of the main forces of naval construction, and it is impossible to give all the production capacity to LNG ships. If you want me to say, it is better to popularize the technology, so that all capable shipyards in the country can get a piece of the pie, and completely squeeze out the shipbuilding industry in South Korea with the advantage of scale. If China's shipbuilding industry can occupy the absolute leading position in the world's shipbuilding industry, it will not only improve China's international status, but also give a huge boost to the mainland's ocean-going strategy.
China's shipbuilding industry has today's scale, it is indeed gratifying, historically, China's shipbuilding industry has also stood on top of the world, now, we just returned to the status that originally belonged to us, just like the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we do not seek to be the king and hegemon, only to return to the position that originally belonged to us.