Taixing city in East China's Jiangsu province recently launched an action plan for the high-quality development of its green and intelligent ship industry from 2025 to 2027, aiming for its green and intelligent shipbuilding industry to generate 10 billion yuan ($1.39 billion) in invoiced sales by 2027.

This is part of a bid to seize new industry opportunities, as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) revised its greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy for ships in 2023 and passed the world's first mandatory net-zero framework agreement for the shipping industry in April.

Taixing Port. [Photo/WeChat account: txfabu]

Taixing is currently home to 42 enterprises involved in shipbuilding and supporting industries, including four whole ship manufacturers, with an annual shipbuilding capacity of 3.68 million deadweight tons.

In 2024, the invoiced sales generated by the city's shipbuilding and supporting industries hit 14.41 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.5 percent.

Taixing shipping companies are ramping up efforts to improve their competitiveness, accelerating green and intelligent production and enhancing their innovative manufacturing capabilities for new energy ships. Ship supporting enterprises are also accelerating the localization process of core components.

Focusing on high-tech ships, marine engineering equipment, new energy ships, and intelligent manufacturing, Taixing will work to build an industrial ecosystem that includes funding, innovation, talent, and services and develop a shipbuilding industry with strong competitiveness and a shipbuilding supporting industry with high-quality, comprehensive services, said Yan Ronghua, director of Taixing's development and reform commission.

A vessel built by Taixing manufacturers. [Photo/WeChat account: txfabu]