The CMHI-220, an FPSO built by China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) Co, leaves the dock in Haimen on Feb 27. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

Stretching from Changqingsha in Rugao to the estuary of the Yangtze River at Yuantuojiao in Qidong, the 166-kilometer shoreline along the river in Nantong has formed an industrial belt featuring marine engineering and high-end shipbuilding. 

The city is currently home to more than 400 marine engineering and shipbuilding companies above designated size, which refers to companies with an annual revenue of 20 million yuan ($3.05 million) and over, including Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co, COSCO (Nantong) Shipyard Co, China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) Co, and Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co, forming a coordinated development model of State-owned, private, and foreign-funded companies.

Nantong is not only a national center of the high-tech shipbuilding industry and a national base for ship exports, but also boasts two thirds of the country's shipbuilding capacity within 200 km around. Its marine engineering capacity accounts for one fourth of the country's total.

A number of world-class vessels have been built in Nantong, including the first 20000-TEU container carrier in China, the first China-made polar cruise ship, and CMHI-220, the world's largest floating production, storage, as well as offloading vessel for the petroleum industry, in terms of tonnage and oil storage capacity.

An industrial cluster featuring marine engineering equipment, high-tech-powered ships, core supporting equipment, as well as technological research, development, and services is taking shape in the city. Emphasis is put on shipbuilding in sections, while the cluster has also been pushing forward smart manufacturing.