Wison New Energies' booth at the seventh Nantong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Industry Exhibition. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

The seventh Nantong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Industry Exhibition opened on Sept 16 at the Nantong International Convention and Exhibition Center in Jiangsu province and will run until Sept 19, setting records for both exhibition area and exhibitor numbers.

The event covers about 32,000 square meters across the North and South venues and the Zilang Lake area. More than 600 companies are exhibiting, with over 30,000 visitors expected.

At the Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering's booth, models of a 309,000-deadweight-metric ton LNG dual-fuel very large crude carrier and a methanol dual-fuel container ship attracted much attention. The OOCL Wisdom, delivered in June, is the world's first methanol dual-fuel container ship capable of carrying 24,168 twenty-foot equivalent units.

The expo highlights Nantong's transition from shipbuilding to high-end, green and smart manufacturing, as well as its expansion into design, research, development, operations and services. Wison New Energies displayed the NGUYA floating LNG unit model, the largest and highest-capacity floating LNG unit ever independently developed by China, which was delivered from Nantong last September. The company has signed an operation and maintenance contract for the unit.

Manufacturing upgrades are also on display. Dedicated zones for industrial innovation and AI empowerment feature one in three exhibitors directly involved in digitalization or intelligent technologies. Wuhu Xingjian Intelligent Manufacturing Equipment showcased a welding robot already used by several Nantong shipyards. Local firm SeawardX Technologies brought an independently developed lightweight active phased-array marine radar.

At the Jiangsu University of Science and Technology booth, shipyard and supplier executives discussed intelligent upgrading and talent development. Over the past three years, the university has signed more than 300 technical service contracts with key Nantong shipbuilding companies, and more than 10,000 graduates have joined local firms.

Li Yanqing, vice-president and secretary-general of the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry, said the exhibition has improved in each of its seven editions. Nantong is home to large, medium and small-sized assembly enterprises as well as suppliers, and this industrial cluster creates great opportunities for innovation, he said. With an existing AI and robotics base, the city and Jiangsu province can serve as a new national example in digital and intelligent transformation.