On March 28, the CSSC Guangzhou Longxue Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. officially launched the building of China Shippings 308,000-ton VLCC, the first ship to be built by Longxue and the largest ever ship to be built in South China at the CSSC Guangzhou Longxue Shipbuilding Base. The CSSC Group, the BaoGang Group and China Shipping officially signed the Letter of Intent on the Shipbuilding Project at Longxue Base symbolizing that one of China's top three shipbuilding bases, the Pearl River Estuary Shipbuilding Base, has developed to a certain scale. The long history of the lack of Guangzhou, even South China, could not build ships of over 100,000 tons, finally came to an end.

At the Commissioning Ceremony, Mayor Zhang Guangning said that to establish a 300,000-ton shipbuilding base, to expand the shipping industry and build Guangzhou into the third largest shipbuilding base in China, following Shanghai and Dalian, was the most desired objective for Guangzhou. The construction of CSSC Guangzhou Longxue Shipbuilding Base will surely also push the development of the manufacturing industry and other relevant industry sectors in Guangzhou and South China region as well. It is of great and profound significance to drive the fast and sound development of Guangzhou's economy and exert Guangzhou's driving role as a regional central city. As one of the key regions of China, for Guangzhou to implement the strategic adjustment of labor force deployment and industrial transforming and upgrading, Nansha District will be built into a modern industrial base integrating the logistics industry, portside industry, and high-tech industry.

(Translated by Guangzhou Association of Foreign Affairs Translators)

Source : english.gz.gov.cn