Besides flexing the industrial muscle, the yards are demonstrating their ESG chops too, as many of the new orders are for LNG-powered vessels. In the company’s museum, I saw photos of myself, marking the occasions I was there in 2007 when Yangzijiang Shipbuilding launched its IPO, 2017 when the Straits Times Index (STI) component stock marked its tenth anniversary on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), and more recently, when Yangzjiang Financial Holding, its investment arm, was spun off in a listing last April and where I now serve as its lead independent director.
There is nothing like taking the pulse of the ground while standing from a floating vantage point. One of the highlights of my recent week-long trip to China was visiting one of the mega yards operated by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding where container ships that can carry up to 24,000 TEUs, or 20-foot equivalent boxes, are being built.
From the bridge of one of those ships docked along the Yangtze River where the yards are located, it was a sight to behold. There was a constant buzz of activities as the company works towards fulfilling its bulging order book of some $20 billion. I was told the yards, which will be full till 2026, could have built ships of a bigger size, if not for the need to keep to within 399.9m dictated by the width of the Suez Canal.
