This Day, That Year

Item from March 23, 1995, in China Daily:

The Pacific Challenger, the largest freighter ever designed and built in China, was launched on Monday. The 150,000 dead weight ton vessel was built for the Dominium Company Ltd of Hong Kong, and is the fourth of its kind built by the New Dalian Shipyard for overseas clients.

China's shipbuilding industry has been experiencing severe stress since the 2008 financial crisis because of dwindling orders, according to the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry.

Last year, orders for new ships fell by 33 percent year-on-year to about 21 million dead weight tons, according to the group. In the past seven years, more than 140 shipyards were closed nationwide, it said.

COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry, China's third-largest shipbuilder by output, is planning to shrink capacity to 9.6 million DWT by 2020 - the company will reduce the number of offshore shipyards from five to two.

Shipyards in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces will be affected.

Declining international oil and shipbuilding prices, growing costs for materials and labor have become factors squeezing shipyards' earnings.

COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry was established in December, combining COSCO Shipyard Group, COSCO Shipbuilding Industry Co and China Shipping Industry Co.

Last year, both COSCO Shipyard and China Shipping Industry reported financial losses.