Dongyang Shipbuilding Engineering: Five Breakthroughs Promote Marketing

Gao Xinru

Ningde Dongyang Shipbuilding Engineering Co., Ltd., located in the east of Fujian Province, has achieved a breakthrough in five aspects of “ship supervision”, “nondestructive testing”,“welder training”, “ship repair” and“building overseas maintenance base”,by breaking the traditional concept and adhering to the operation road with its own characteristics. This not only makes the company bigger and stronger, but also promotes the joint development of local shipbuilding enterprises.

Dongyang Shipbuilding is a private enterprise, and is an old and wellknown local shipbuilding family. You Yunxia, general manager of the company,originally studied medicine, and later made a crossover to shipbuilding under the influence of the family. She not only inherits her parents’ management idea of dong according to one’s abilities, but also is good at determining the business direction and business focus according to the market changes and customer needs.“Where there is a shortage of discipline in the regional shipbuilding industry, that discipline should be available and done well.” Based on this idea, Dongyang Shipbuilding Company has positioned itself in the “service” link of the local shipbuilding industry chain and focused on five major businesses, and its performance has steadily improved.

One of the businesses is shipbuilding supervision. There are many private shipbuilding enterprises in East Fujian, but lack of professional local shipbuilding supervision. In view of this situation, Dongyang Shipbuilding Company has established a ship engineering supervision organization,complete with corresponding professional supervision engineering and technical personnel according to the relevant national documents, laws, regulations and engineering supervision contracts, etc. On behalf of the shipowner, the supervision body conducts effective monitoring of the process of ship building or repair and provides professional services. In 2018 alone, the company's supervisory agency won a bid for the construction and maintenance supervision of a number of official duty law enforcement vessels,including the Fujian Provincial Marine Police Corps and the China Fisheries Administration, and was unanimously approved by the owners. The move has not only improved the operating performance of Dongyang Shipbuilding Company,but also provided strong support for ensuring the quality and safety of local ship construction and maintenance, and further promoting the healthy and orderly development of the shipbuilding industry in the region.

The second business is nondestructive testing. There are many kinds of ships built by the shipbuilding enterprises in the east of Fujian, which requires many professional equipment and personnel to undertake the inspection duties. However, for shipbuilding enterprises, it is difficult for a company to set up “l(fā)arge and complete, small and complete” testing institutions and to equip them with corresponding professionals. This requires that a local special ship testing agency should be able to provide close-range services to local shipbuilding companies. In view of this business opportunity, Dongyang Shipbuilding Company has set up a professional non-destructive testing organization. The organization has X-ray testing, ultrasonic testing, magnetic powder testing, penetrant testing,thickness measurement of ship steel plate, flammable gas explosion detection and so on. So far, the testing institution has provided testing services for offshore platforms, multi-purpose anchor handling vessels, ro-ro passenger ships, tugboats,fishing boats, water supply auxiliary ships,fishing administration law enforcement ships, traffic boats, patrol boats and other ships.

The establishment and operation of the non-destructive testing institution of Dongyang Shipbuilding Company enable local shipbuilding enterprises to not only get effective and convenient services in time, but also save the high cost of hiring out-of-town professionals, thus winning appraisal and popularity of the shipbuilding enterprises.

The third business is welder training and examination. Welder is one of the most important types of work in shipbuilding industry. The technical level of welder is the key factor to determine the overall quality of ship. This means that welder training and forensics are directly related to the quality of local ship construction. In response to this market demand, Dongyang Shipbuilding Company applied to the relevant departments to set up a welder examination committee. The welding examination committee is responsible for the centralized training of welders 2-3 times a year, and strictly carries out training and examination based on the principle of combining theory with practice. Finally, the relevant departments issue corresponding welding grade certificates to the welders who have passed the examination. Over the years, the welding test commission has trained hundreds of local certified welders.

This has promoted the safety consciousness and welding skills of welding personnel in shipbuilding enterprises, and has played a positive role in ensuring safety in production,improving welding quality, effectively preventing and reducing the occurrence of various kinds of production safety accidents. It has enhanced the core competitiveness of the local shipbuilding industry.

The fourth business is ship repair and outfitting. Dongyang Shipbuilding Company has a number of ship building and repair facilities, such as 7500 ton dry dock, pontoon voyage repair dock and gantry cranes. It has built finished oil tanker, bulk carrier, container ship,multi-function anchor boat, passenger ro-ro ship, tugboat, fishing boat,water supply auxiliary ship, fishing administration law enforcement ship,traffic boat, patrol boat, etc. In addition,the company also produces weathertight steel doors, wire mesh doors, watertight doors, cabin skylights, fixed rectangular windows in cab, aluminum lifting windows, hollow glass sound insulation windows, aluminum moving windows,fire resistant service windows, portholes,skylight manhole covers,rotary oil hatch cover, hand hole cover, steel watertight hatch cover, steering gear hatch cover and other supporting equipment. They can meet about 60% of the ship repair outfitting and structural requirements of the local shipbuilding industry. Dongyang Shipbuilding Company has formed a shipbuilding, ship repair and marine equipment integrated enterprise of its own characteristics.

The fifth business is the establishment of overseas ship maintenance base, serving the “Belt and Road” area. Dongyang Shipbuilding Company is keeping pace with the times, focusing on the market demand of the “Belt and Road”region and “walking out” to establish a ship maintenance base in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Johor Bahru is a city located at the southernmost end of the Malay Peninsula and the southernmost part of Eurasia. It is only separated from Singapore by the Straits of Johor, which is known as the“Gateway to the South of Malaysia”. Its geographical location is very convenient.In addition, Johor Bahru is the second largest city in Malaysia and one of the most important industrial cities in Malaysia. Its transportation and commerce are well developed, and industry covers electronics, resources, chemicals,shipbuilding and so on, and it enjoys obvious advantages in the establishment of a local ship repair base.

In May 2016, Dongyang Shipbuilding Company kicked construction of 10000 tons of platform and berthing wharf facilities in Johor Bahru. On December 3, 2016, the first 10,000 ton self-priming self-unloading marine engineering ship smoothly came onto the platform, signaling that the base was officially put into operation. Thanks to the implementation of fine management,the ship-building berth’s repair cycle on the base is controlled at about 15 days,with 2 batches per month and 2-3 ships per batch.

You Yunxia told the reporter that the main customers of the ship repair base are Chinese overseas construction units.In addition, there are shipowners and ship operators in neighboring countries. The types of ships repaired at the base include engineering vessels, ocean engineering auxiliary vessels, cargo ships, ro-ro passenger ships, ocean-going boats, etc.On the basis of ship repair, the base is also actively engaged in ship non-destructive testing, quality inspection services and other services. You Yunxia said a ship domestic round trip takes more than 30 days, delaying construction and increasing costs. In comparison, the company's ship repair base can quickly meet the needs of overseas construction units in China, and help these enterprises save time to and from China.

It is reported that Dongyang Shipping Company is the first for the establishment of the overseas ship repair base in Fujian shipbuilding industry. You Yunxia said that the company will conscientiously sum up its business experience, keep up with the new era, give play to new actions, further expand domestic and overseas markets, and make contributions of a private enterprise to the “Belt and Road” initiative and the development of the marine economy.