6. Conclusion
With a view to becoming the largest maritime power in the world within 2020, shipbuilding industry is developing speedily in China. As with other industries, China begins by emphasizing its low labour rates and then moves up the value chain to higher-technology (higher-value) products (i.e., more sophisticated ships). Government policy, national maritime strategy and other supportive measure help the local shipyards to survive and flourish in the global market. Now China is number one shipbuilding nation in the world leaving behind South Korea and Japan. The completion volume of ships in China has been increasing rapidly since the 1990s, making China one of the shipbuilding centres in the world. The number of new ship orders in China amounted to around 40% of the global new orders in 2014, which was top of the world for five consecutive years. Delivery amount of new ships in China ranks the first in the world for five consecutive years, accounting for around 45% of the global in the year 2014. The biggest threats for China shipbuilding industry are from low wage shipbuilding countries like India, Philippine, Vietnam, Brazil, Bangladesh, so on. Those countries are even bigger threat to China shipbuilding industry, with their ability to supply highly educated workers at low wages to fill roles in both low and high-tech market segment.
