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(COMTEX) B: World's largest shipyard under construction in Shanghai ( Xinhua )

BEIJING, Jun 4, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Construction started Friday on what
is to become the largest shipyard in the world, marking a major step forward in
China's ambition to become the world's leading ship builder.

In the first phase of the 3.6-billion-US-dollar project, the Jiangnan Shipyard
Corp., a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), is moving to
Changxing Island to make way for Shanghai Expo 2010, China Daily reported
Saturday.

The Jiangnan Shipyard will expand its shipbuilding capacity from the current
800,000 deadweight tons a year to 4.5 million by 2020, it said.

In the second phase of the project, other CSSC subsidiaries, including Hudong
and Waigaoqiao, will add more yards along Changxing Island's eight-kilometer
coastline.

By 2015, CSSC is expected to have an annual capacity of 8 million deadweight
tons, half of China's current production capacity.

By then, Shanghai will also become the world's largest shipbuilding base,
tripling its capacity to 12 million deadweight tons, said the English language
newspaper.

"The central government has called on China to become the largest shipbuilder in
the world. The Changxing base is the most important step forward in this plan,"
it quoted CSSC General Manager Chen Xiaojin as saying.

Friday also marked the 140th anniversary of the Jiangnan Shipyard, which was
founded in the late Qing Dynasty as China's first manufacturing base for steel,
naval ships and steel cannon.

Shipbuilding has since been a vital industry in China as it boosts domestic
manufacturing and machinery industries, creates job opportunities and revenue,
and improves the country's naval capacity.

The country's shipbuilding industry has achieved an annual average growth of 17
percent over the past few years and China now accounts for a quarter of the
world's shipbuilding market, up from less than five percent five years ago.

Copyright 2005 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY.

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