Qidong's ship-building industrial port. [Photo/WeChat account: qidongfabu]

Qidong, a county-level city in Nantong, Jiangsu province, recorded 15.67 billion yuan ($2.34 billion) in imports and exports from its marine engineering and shipbuilding sector in the first seven months of this year, up 60.7 percent year-on-year, according to Qidong Customs.

With 185 kilometers of river and coastal shorelines and 45 square kilometers of port-adjacent land, Qidong has long served as a key pillar in the development of the Shanghai-Nantong-Taizhou-Yangzhou world-class shipbuilding and marine engineering industrial cluster.

In recent years, Qidong's marine engineering and shipbuilding industry has expanded both its geographic footprint and business scope. Its footprint has spread from the riverfront to the coast, while its business has moved from offshore work to deep-sea equipment manufacturing.

Since August, production at Qidong's marine engineering and shipbuilding firms has remained strong, with major enterprises holding foreign trade orders that stretch through 2029. This sustained demand is providing strong momentum for the county's foreign trade growth and underpinning the industry's continued expansion.