Over the next five years, China has pledged to upgrade its traditional industries. As the world’s largest shipbuilder, the country is also transforming its shipbuilding sector to enhance global competitiveness. In today’s special series, “2026–2030: The Journey Ahead,” our reporter Wu Bin visits the construction site of China’s second domestically built large cruise ship to see how the sector is upgrading itself.

LNG ship, aircraft carrier and large cruise ship: These are the three most difficult ships to build, known as “crown jewels” in shipbuilding. And now, China has the ability to build all three of them.

WU BIN, Shanghai “But it’s not enough to build them. China wants to be among the best in the world.”

Take a large cruise ship for example. It’s the most complex ship in the world. One of these “floating cities on the sea” has over 25 million parts, 5 times those of an airplane. In 2023, China delivered its first domestically-built large cruise ship – Adora Magic City. And that was just a start. The second one is now sitting in the dock, ready for a big moment.

WU BIN, Shanghai “I’m now on the deck of China’s second domestically built large cruise ship, Adora Flora City, docked at the mouth of the Yangtze River. From the outside, the vessel is already close to completion. But what about the inside? Let’s go and have a look.”

Adora Flora City is a bit larger than its predecessor, with a bigger passenger capacity. But that’s not the most significant improvement.

In the early morning of March 14, the undocking process starts with the waters from the Yangtze River pouring into the dock. That’s the first time the ship will be taken to the near waters for a short sail. Adora Flora City has reached this stage 8 months earlier than Magic City. And the interior is also well ahead. In this grand theater, the seats, the lighting and the sound system are all set unlike Magic City when I got on board at the same stage. So how did this happen? I ask one of the engineers. He points to something called “DSP”, a digital platform that connects all sectors of the ship.

YUAN FEIHUI, Deputy Dean, Institute for Design and Research, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, CSSC “China’s manufacturing sector is now under the trend of digital transformation, and our factory is no exception. When tackling highly complex projects like large cruise ships, it’s challenging to deliver vessels on schedule without leveraging digital tools.”

Put simply, the DSP is able to manage every step of the shipbuilding and make sure that everyone is on the same page. To build a large ship that requires over 3,000 people working simultaneously, digital management is crucial for avoiding errors. Yuan gives the example of electric cables. For Adore Flora City, over 4700 kilometers of cable are needed. That’s ten times longer than regular ships, and almost the length across half of China. In the past, cables were a big problem because workers might just randomly install them as long as they were functional. But about a month ago, we saw the cables were well-organized.

YUAN FEIHUI, Deputy Dean, Institute for Design and Research, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, CSSC “We developing our own cable system at the design stage. For each floor—how many cables, what specifications, what models, and what types to use—our designers have input the information directly into the modeling process according to the drawing requirements.”

That is what Yuan calls a “full-cycle management,” which was tried for the first time from design to installation on the second ship. Instead of traditional paper blueprints, engineers are making use of tablets. It helps engineers to visualize the constructing steps and gives details of the materials needed. Artificial Intelligence is also helping improve efficiency. In one of the warehouses, AGVs and robots automatically stack the materials into storage.

XU LYUZHOU, Director, Distribution Center, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, CSSC “For example, when I give it instructions—such as the timing for material requirements—it uses AI algorithms to optimize storage paths based on the ‘first-in, first-out’ principle.”

YUAN FEIHUI, Deputy Dean, Institute for Design and Research, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, CSSC “Our quality has improved. Our rework has decreased, our material waste has been reduced. Our productive hours have increased, and our unproductive hours have decreased, further driving our efficiency gains. Our progress has accelerated, and we have become more proficient in building cruise ships.”

China’s 15th Five-Year Plan highlighted the need to optimize and upgrade traditional industries, including shipbuilding. And digital transformation is key to enhancing the global competitiveness of China’s shipbuilding sector. Now, for the country’s major shipbuilding factories and ship types, digital tools like the DSP are continuously improving efficiency and quality.

That’s why China has remained the world’s top shipbuilder for 16 consecutive years, grabbing the largest market share.

WU BIN, Shanghai “In 2025, China’s shipbuilding sector has given a satisfactory performance despite the world’s new orders down for about 10% in total. The China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry predicts that the market volatility may increase in the future, but for China’s domestic shipbuilding sector, capturing the ‘certainty’ gives it the confidence to face the ‘uncertainty’ in the world. Wu Bin, CGTN, Shanghai.”
Source: CGTN