The Qidong Marine Engineering and Shipbuilding Industrial Park in Qidong – a county-level city administered by Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province – is said to be completely committed to its transformation and upgrading, steering itself towards the middle and high-end of the sector and paving the way for its prosperous development.

An impressive aerial view of the facilities being operated by Dong Fang International Container (Qidong) Co Ltd. [Photo/WeChat account: qidongfabu]

The transformation and upgrading of the industry is providing plenty of orders for shipyards. "Now we have orders worth more than 3 billion yuan ($447.27 million) and production plans are scheduled into 2024," said Wu Xiaoming, deputy director of the office of Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering Co Ltd.

At the wharf operated by COSCO Shipping (Qidong) Offshore Co Ltd, building of the world's first fourth-generation self-elevating wind turbine installation vessel is now in the final stage. And the shipyard, operated by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Qidong Marine Engineering Co Ltd, is operating at full capacity and staff are working hard to fabricate engineering vessels and ship-lifting platforms.

Over the past few years, the industrial park has produced a number of world-class products such as the world's largest wind turbine installation vessel. From January to May this year, the gross industrial output value of the park rose 17.7 percent year-on-year to 9.56 billion yuan.