World Marine Equipment Conference 2023, themed "Carrying Human Dreams and Sailing Towards the Vast Ocean of Stars," was inaugurated in Fuzhou on October 12.
The conference was organized by the People's Government of Fujian Province, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Transport, with the Fuzhou Municipal People's Government and the China Center for Information Industry Development as the co-organizers. China Shipbuilding Group Limited and the China Institute of Navigation (CIN) provided support for the conference. It was a top international event for exchange and cooperation in the field of global maritime equipment.
Zhang Guoqing, a member of Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPC and Vice Premier of the State Council, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. He emphasized the need to deeply study and implement the important guidance of President Xi Jinping on the new industrialization, implement the deployment of the National Conference on Promoting the New Industrialization, vigorously develop advanced manufacturing, and accelerate the progress of the new industrialization, so as to build a strong material and technological foundation for Chinese modernization.
The main forum of the conference was presided by Guo Ningning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and Executive Vice Governor. He Jianzhong, the Chairman of the CIN, attended and delivered the keynote address. Wang Qinmin, the Director of the National committee of experts on e-government affairs and Vice Chairman of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, also attended the main forum and delivered a speech. Zhou Zuyi, the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress, Zhao Long, the Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Governor, and Cui Yuying, the Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, attended the main forum.
Photograph taken by Yang Jie, China Daily Fujian Bureau
Chairman He Jianzhong Attends the Conference and Delivers the Keynote Speech
Chairman He Jianzhong Attends the Conference and Delivers the Keynote Speech
In his keynote address, Chairman He Jianzhong pointed out the following:
First, we need to grasp the new trend of green, low-carbon, and intelligent shipping development. Firstly, we should promote the greening transformation of shipping industry, strengthen the construction of green infrastructure, vigorously promote the use of clean energy, optimize the development of green power technologies, choose suitable clean energy sources based on ship types, cargo types, routes, and distances, and improve the norms and standards for ships using shore power while standardizing the innovation models and development methods of smart ports. Secondly, we have to advance the digitalization of the shipping industry. The development of digital technologies has expanded the space for the high-quality development of the shipping industry. Therefore, we need to seize the historical opportunities generated by the new round of global technological revolution and industrial transformation that bring about new technologies, models and formats to promote the deep integration of digital technology and the shipping industry. Moreover, there are needs to innovate shipping service platforms, deepen the innovation and development pattern of shipping, and realize the concept of "people enjoy their journeys, and goods flow smoothly" by turning cloud computing, big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and other technologies into new service products, creating new formats for development, and enhancing the new value of shipping. Thirdly, we will promote the intelligent development of the shipping industry. The CIN organized more than 20 units, including the China Waterborne Transport Research Institute, to undertake the project "China Intelligent Shipping Technology and Industrialization Development Roadmap" of the China Association for Science and Technology in 2020. After nearly a year and a half of joint efforts, the research produced the "China Intelligent Shipping Technology and Industrialization Development Forecast" report. It is predicted that, by 2035, China's intelligent shipping technology and industrialization will reach an international leading level; by 2050, China's intelligent shipping technology and industrialization can comprehensively achieve an international leading level, forming a high-quality intelligent shipping system with global coverage of intelligent, networked shipping services. To achieve the above goals, it is necessary to implement the "Guidance on the Development of Intelligent Shipping" and the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Green and Intelligent Development of Domestic Shipping," organize collective intelligence research to solve challenging problems, promote the integration of the industry chain and innovation chain, establish industry alliances, create collaborative innovation platforms, and vigorously promote the intelligent and high-quality development of the shipping industry.
Second, it is crucial to build a "Maritime Science and Technology Innovation" platform to solve challenging problems. Firstly, we should advance research in key and core technologies to break through the technical challenges of deep-sea navigation equipment manufacturing and safety assurance. China is already a major shipbuilding nation, but in the three major areas of shipbuilding known as the "Three Crown Jewels," there are to some extent bottlenecks or challenges. These include inadequate capabilities for deep-sea environmental detection, analysis, and forecasting, significant shortcomings in the independent design and manufacturing of deep-sea navigation equipment, a lack of a safety assurance system for deep-sea navigation and resource development, and a lack of independent controllability in deep-sea technology standards and engineering software. This especially includes research and development in deep-sea navigation equipment, including large liquefied gas vessels, international cruise ships, deep submersibles, polar heavy icebreakers, polar large cargo vessels, equipment for biological resource development, and offshore complexes. It is necessary to establish a coordinated research and development mechanism among government, production, academia, research, and application, pool scientific and technological forces and resources, jointly formulate research and development plans, systematically construct a technology development path and industrial ecosystem for deep-sea navigation equipment manufacturing and safety assurance to promote the rapid development of technology and industry. Another aspect is to gather technological resources and overcome key technical challenges in green power. In response to the maturity, availability, cost-effectiveness, safety, and regulatory standards of new and clean energy sources such as LNG, batteries, methanol, hydrogen, ammonia, as well as issues related to electrification of terminal power usage and green power sources in the port and shipping sectors, we aim to establish a collaborative innovation platform for energy, vessels, and shipping. This platform will bring together innovative talents, national key laboratories, innovative technology companies, and other technological resources. By combining this effort with national policies on green and low-carbon energy transformation, we seek to incentivize enterprises to play a key role as innovators and problem solvers.
Our goal is to overcome the challenges of large-scale industrial application of new and clean energy sources in the shipping industry and improve the effectiveness of transferring and commercializing technological achievements.
Third, we need to deepen international maritime science and technology exchange and cooperation. First, we should work together to implement strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the shipping industry. According to the strategy of low (zero) carbon emissions, we should develop and organize the implementation of phased action plans and implementation paths for carbon emissions in the maritime industry. We need to accelerate the development of new and clean energy vessels, optimize green vessel power technologies, and actively promote the use of new energy and clean energy vessels powered by electricity, LNG, hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, and fuel cells. We should establish green shipping corridors, open up green shipping routes, and encourage and support Chinese port and shipping companies to actively participate in the development and construction of international green shipping corridors and green shipping routes. Additionally, we should create a comprehensive innovation platform for green and low-carbon vessels throughout the entire value chain. This platform will integrate energy, shipbuilding, maritime research institutions, and talent pools, forming an integrated scientific and technological innovation system encompassing production, academia, research, and application. By aligning with the needs of the shipping industry, we can drive the development of shipbuilding equipment manufacturing, promote the upgrade of upstream energy industries, and establish a reliable foundation for achieving the goal of peak carbon emissions in the shipping sector. Secondly, we should deeply participate in global governance of maritime science and technology, propose Chinese approaches, share Chinese knowledge. We should take steps to promote innovation to catch up with global advances, actively integrate into the global innovation network, strive to foster global partnerships that serve sustainable innovation, and provide more Chinese solutions and experiences for global maritime technology innovation.
The main activities of the conference include the opening ceremony and main forum, 6 sub-forums, an achievement exhibition, and several concurrent events. China Marine Equipment Expo and Modern Supply Chain Summit 2023 hosted by CSSC (China State Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.), Fujian Marine Economic Industry Cooperation and Innovative Development Conference hosted by the People's Government of Fujian Province are also scheduled to be held during the conference. As an exhibitor, China Institute of Navigation participated in the China Marine Equipment Expo, and representatives of the Inland River High-quality Development Committee of the institute attended the Green and Intelligent Development Forum for Inland Ships.
Chairman He Jianzhong also visited Science Education Base of CIN—China Shipping Heritage Museum from October 12 to 13. He toured the exhibition halls of the China Marine Equipment Expo and visited the booths of China Institute of Navigation, Eastern Navigation Service Center, Southern Navigation Service Center, Meizhou Bay Port, and China Classification Society. Chairman He learned in detail about maritime and marine equipment technological achievements and had discussions with staff members about deep-sea exploration, equipment manufacturing, innovation integration, and the development and application of technological achievements.
Chairman He visited China Shipping Heritage Museum, checked cultural relics
Chairman He Jianzhong visited and exchanged views at the exhibition booth of the Southern Navigation Service Center
Chairman He Jianzhong visited and exchanged views at the exhibition booth of the Eastern Navigation Service Center
Chairman He Jianzhong visited and exchanged views at the exhibition booth of Meizhou Bay Port
Chairman He Jianzhong extended greetings and exchanged views at the booth of the China Institute of Navigation