A Pioneer and a Promoter of Ro / Ro Passenger Transport across Bohai Bay --- A Story about Yu Xinjian, Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of Bohai Ferry Group

Overlooking China's shipping chart and focusing on the Bohai Bay, along the route between Yantai and Dalian across the sea, modern ships fully loaded with goods and passengers ply back and forth for economic recovery after work resumption.

With all this hustle and bustle, at Yantai, a 60-year-old man feels very pleased, who has been dedicating to this shipping route for more than 30 years.

Once, he spent less than 10 years making Yantai Shipping Company, the smallest and poorest company, grow into the largest and strongest one in Shandong Province, and its total assets have been increased by dozens of times. Today, Under his leadership, Bohai Ferry Group, from an unknown local enterprise, has been lifted as an industry model, to be the largest Ro / Ro shipping company with the most comprehensive transportation capacity in Asia In addition, it now occupies more than 60 percent of the Ro / Ro transport market in Bohai Bay, having been achieving the highest revenue and profit level for 11 consecutive years.

He is Yu Xinjian, Secretary of the Party committee and general manager of Bohai Ferry Group Co., Ltd. All the difficulties of the pioneering days, all the unforgettable occasions of the salvage at sea, all the brave trials on innovation and breakthrough, all the commitments to safety work and all the deep feelings on employee cares label him as a very distinctive and prominent figure, from Shandong province, along Bohai Bay.

Opening champagne for the new ship launching. 

Checking the material reserves.  

Listening to elderly passengers.

Checking the voyage plan.  

Performing lion dance at the listing ceremony. 

Giving red envelopes to employees' children during the Spring Festival.  

The China Renaissance Ro / Ro passenger ship. 

Shouldering the important task of reviving Ro / Ro passenger transport and enhencing the transport capacity.

 

Along Huanhai Road, Zhifu District, Yantai City, Shandong Province, there is a 6-floor building with nine ship names on the top like "Bohai Pearl", which is very eye-catching. That is where Bohai Ferry Group locates and where Yu Xinjian started his shipping career.

Yu Xinjian, who was born in a poor family, got help from the party organization during his schooling, and was deeply grateful to the party. In 1989, Yu Xinjian, 28 years old, served as the director of Yantai's air traffic management department and became the youngest department level cadre in the transport system of Shandong Province and Yantai city at that time. His official career was promising.

At that time, Yantai shipping company was on the verge of bankruptcy and employees’ complaints were heard everywhere. Yu Xinjian accepted the organizational arrangements as the general manager of Yantai shipping company. At that time, there was nobody who would like to give up his official career and engage in such business deals in the north. Many friends were surprised at his decision. It was from then on that Yu Jian has had the indissoluble bond with Ro / Ro passenger transport.

Through a hard process and a series of coordination, the office building finally opened up to the outside. Yu Xinjian took lead in every aspect, the situation of disunity among the members of the leadership was finally reversed. Through taking the lead to work, the spirit of the staff was finally restored. Yu Xinjian launched a series of drastic reform measures, just like sparks of fire, igniting the entrepreneurial passion of cadres and workers again. In less than 10 years, Yantai shipping company has become the largest and strongest company in the shipping industry of Shandong Province. The gross tonnage of the ship has reached 200000 units, and the company's assets have increased by dozens of times. In 1998, Yu Xinjian was transferred to deputy general manager of Shandong shipping group.

It was when his career was developing smoothly that a sea accident shocking the whole nation happened. On November 24, 1999, the Ro-Ro Ship "Dashun" of Shandong Yantai Automobile Ferry Co., Ltd., affiliated to Shandong shipping group, capsized and sank, more than 280 people were killed, causing huge losses and bad social impact.

"The sea accident is unforgettable." Yu Xinjian remembered leading his work team of Shandong Shipping Group to make every effort to carry out the on-site search and rescue and rehabilitation work. From then on, he shouldered the heavy task of reviving the Ro / Ro passenger transport along Bohai Bay.

To eliminate the adverse effects of the "11.24" sea accident, Shandong provincial government and the Ministry of communications agreed in 2001 that Shandong Bohai ferry Co., Ltd., the predecessor of Bohai Ferry Group , which was established in 1998, acquired and merged the former Shandong Yantai automobile ferry Co., Ltd. under Yu Xinjian’s active promotion and suggestions. The later had run into a debt of more than 200 million yuan and was on the verge of bankruptcy at that time. After the acquisition, the office location was moved from Penglai to Yantai.

However, at that time, Bohai Ferry was still a small start-up company, and its development situation was beset with troubles internally and externally. Externally, for a long time after the sea accident, people were so worried about the safety of ships that they would rather take a detour from the highway for more than 1000 kilometers than take a ship to cross the sea again. Internally, the company was under heavy burdens with old ship equipment, and employees lacked confidence in development and were not lined.

It was an critical issue for the enterprise how to restore confidence and revitalize the Ro / Ro passenger transport industry. After a review, Yu Xinjian proposed to Zhan Li, the general manager of Bohai ferry Co., Ltd. at that time: the transport capacity must be updated and inhenced in every possible way according to the characteristics and laws of the weather and sea conditions in Bohai Bay!

According to the industry practice, "buying a ship is better than building a ship, renting a ship is better than buying a ship", some Ro / Ro enterprises once hesitated to move forward. After the "11.24" sea accident, major banks listed the ferry industry as a major risk project, all of which tightened their investment in this industry, making it difficult to buy a ship with loans." Zhan Li still remembered the difficulties at that time. Although Bohai Ferry had already submitted an application to increase its transport capacity, and had made initial intention to purchase the European large Ro / Ro ship "Bohai Pearl" for many times, the approval process became extremely difficult due to the high market access threshold.

There was not only external pressure, but also internal opposition within the company. Some people questioned, "There is no passenger at all, and for what would we still buy such a large ship with capacity of carrying hundreds of cars? for sea water?" What's more, some even yelled at the wokers’ congress, "We have bought 3 ships and suffered great losses. To buy one more, what if we fail again?" For a long time, many employees of the company held a negative attitude towards buying ships.

While, the “helmsman” was determined. "Bohai Bay is the golden waterway, and the distance from Yantai to Dalian is 89 nautical miles. Its hinterland is relatively large, touching a dozen provinces in different areas, such as Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia on the North, Hainan on the South and so on. It is one of the most densely populated areas in our country, but also the most active area of logistics. Ferry transport has both economic and social benefits. As long as we do a good job in security, there will be a market." Based on the profound analysis of the market, Yu Xinjian never wavered in confidence in the development of Ro / Ro passenger transportation.

However, it was difficult for the project to be approved by administrative agencies at ministerial and provincial level. Yu Xinjian strived for coordination for more than 20 times, and finally purchased the "Bohai Pearl", featuring with bow door and stern door on vehicle deck, large cabin capacity and good stability. In September 2002, after the operation of the "Bohai Pearl", the brand effect spread instantly, and it was often difficult to buy a ticket and the profit grew continuously. Many passengers would rather wait in line to see the charm of the ship.

The success of the "Bohai Pearl" made Bohai Ferry realize that they could never get rid of the plight of frequent accidents and low efficiency only relying on the second-hand ships imported from foreign countries. The leading group of Bohai Ferry resolved firmly that they must renew the means of transport, eliminate the old ships and revitalize the Ro / Ro passenger transport industry in Bohai Bay.

Bohai ferry cut the Gordian knot by eliminating successively 10 old Ro / Ro passenger ships, such as "Hualu", to revitalize assets of nearly 200 million yuan, and optimize and upgrade the transport capacity structure.

"Bohai Pearl" built up his confidnce, Yu Xinjian shifted to focus on domestic design to build his own new Ro / Ro passenger ship.

In 2005, 47-year-old Yu Xinjian came to the crossroad of his life again.

This year, Bohai Ferry was restructured under the guidance of Yantai municipal government and transferred the company's equity. Liaoyu Group, a state-owned super large fishery company, took part of the equity of Bohai Ferry and became its controlling shareholder.

"But that's not it. It is call of the industry and its development, and I cannot just quit after the accident. The point is how to do it and how to do well in safety." Yu Xinjian gave up the opportunity to take a leading position in the provincial units and chose to come to "outside the system". With the mission and responsibility of revitalizing the momentum of Shandong's Ro / Ro industry, Yu Xinjian served as the Secretary of the Party committee and general manager of Bohai Ferry after its restructure.

After taking office, Yu Xinjian made a decision to design and build a domestic new Ro / Ro passenger ship of their own based on the cognition of "Bohai Pearl" ship.

There was no ready-made design drawings, no detailed outfitting process, and no construction experience of Ro / Ro passenger ships. It sounded like "Arabian Night Dream" to build our own large Ro / Ro passenger ships at that time. Yu Xinjian knew deeply that innovation was the only way for enterprise development. For him, nothing is impossible.

In 2005, under Yu Xinjian’s leadership, Bohai Ferry invested 500 million yuan to jointly design and build two large luxury Ro / Ro passenger ships "Bohai Golden Pearl" and "Bohai Silver Pearl" with their own intellectual property rights.

At that time, China had no experience in the design and construction of Ro / Ro passenger ships of more than 150 meters. Yu Xinjian gathered the personnel with certain experience in shipbuilding technology management and set up a shipbuilding office. According to the characteristics of sea conditions of Bohai Bay, they designed together with the ship design institute, and explored and built with the shipyard. From ship design, drawing planning to mid-term interior decoration, Yu Xinjian personally and strictly controlled every detail, and cracked the hard nut of independent design and construction.

"I often go on business with general manager Yu. When seeing good decoration, color matching and new materials in airports and hotels, he will discuss with us whether these can also be used in new shipbuilding and constantly improve ship conditions. Up to now, he still keeps the habit." Bohai Ferry deputy general manager Jia Mingyang said.

"Bohai Golden Pearl" and "Bohai Silver Pearl" are the first large Ro / Ro passenger ships with a total length of more than 150 meters, which are designed and built independently in China for the first time. It fills a number of gaps in domestic design and manufacturing technology.

The success of "trial" in shipbuilding had greatly encouraged the company. However, Yu Xinjian did not stop the pace of development. He led the company to build 10 more high-level Ro / Ro passenger ships by spending more than 4 billion yuan. By the end of the year, all 10 new luxury Ro / Ro passenger ships had been put into operation after "China Renaissance" and "China Fuqiang" were put into operation, comprehensively upgrading the company's transporting facilities and capacity.

Yu Xinjian never stopped. In 2011, he started to apply for listing Bohai Ferry.

The listing process, like sailing in the sea, was not so smooth. Due to the problems historically left over from the company, the first application for listing Bohai Ferry was not approved, which brought great pressure to Yu Xinjian. "In the face of difficulties, general manager Yu did not shrink back, but encouraged the company to find out the specific problems together and solve them one by one." Xue Feng, chief financial officer of Bohai Ferry, admired Yu Xinjian very much for his perseverance.

It was hectic and stressful time. Yu Xinjian often went on business for more than 20 days a month. He often flied to Beijing on Sunday and went back to Yantai after completing the procedures on Monday. It involved many administrative departments for the listing procedures, and a document sometimes needed to be stamped by more than 30 departments and Yu Xinjian got them stamped from one department to another.

On September 6, 2012, Bohai Ferry overcame various difficulties and successfully listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange, becoming the first shipping enterprise listed on A-share market in Shandong Province. On that day, Bohai ferry issued more than 1.1 billion yuan of shares, exploring a new financing channel for the company's development, and realizing the dream of several generations of Bohai Ferry.

As for how to lead the huge "Ro / Ro fleets" far and steady, Yu Xinjian gave his own answer: strengthen good quality inside, establish good image outside, and take initiative seizing market.

In 2014, Bohai Ferry established a wholly-owned subsidiary in Hong Kong. The international luxury cruise ship "China Taishan" purchased from Europe had become the first wholly-owned and independently operated luxury cruise ship in China.

In the same year, in view of the growing trade and transportation demand between China and South Korea, Bohai Ferry timely put forward the development strategy of "charging out of Bohai Bay and heading for Asia”. It invested to establish a joint venture with Yantai Port Group Co., Ltd. and HANARO shipping of South Korea, opened route from Yantai to Pyeongtaek, Korea, and specially built the world's largest passenger container ship "Sea Blue Whale" for the international routes between China and South Korea.

Bohai Ferry also actively planned to extend the industrial chain, set up a financial leasing company by investing 200 million yuan, and realized the benign interactive situation of "promoting production with finance and improving finance with production"; it established a fuel supply company and achieved the goal of ensuring transportation capacity and reducing costs; it cooperated with Shenzhen International Holding Co., Ltd. and created a multi-modal transport and integrated operation mode.

On March 27 this year, Bohai Ferry wholly acquired Shandong Haoyang Investment Co., Ltd., by investing 338 million yuan and indirectly acquired 2/3 shares of Weihai-Dalian Passenger Transport Co., Ltd. through Shandong Haoyang Investment Co., Ltd.

At the same time, Bohai Ferry also actively engaged itself in building a strong army by constrcting large transporting carriers for long-range delivery of strategic materials and people. 7 new large Ro / Ro passenger ships were built to implement the national defense requirements. Dspite the cost, additional investment of more than 63 million yuan was made to retrofit, reinforce and transform the newly built ships so as to meet the sea transportation delivery demand of the PLA. "We'll do it no matter whether there is reward or not. We just do it when national defense needs." Yu Xinjian said firmly. In the past five years, Bohai Ferry has participated in military transports more than 40 times, transporting nearly 30000 people and more than 4000 pieces of equipment in total, and saving large sum of money for the PLA. It both meet the requirement of enterprise development and national defense need.

"Never being self-content and slacked-off is the heirloom of Bohai Ferry." Yu Xinjian’s actions always accorded with his words. Over the past 20 years, he has taken the revitalization of the Ro / Ro passenger transport industry as his own responsibility, with all the Bohai Ferry staff together, made great efforts and forged ahead.

After unremitting efforts, Bohai Ferry has achieved a leap-forward development. The number of passenger seats of the company has increased from 340 to 16000, and the passenger carrying capacity has increased by 46 times; the lane line of ships has increased from 240 meters to 24000 meters, and the transportation capacity has increased by 99 times. To December 31, 2019, the company's total assets reached 5.4 billion yuan, net assets reached 3.6 billion yuan, and the asset liability ratio was 34%. The company's revenue, profit, car and passenger transportation market share, taxes and other major business indicators have been ranked first in China's similar enterprises for 12 consecutive years.

Yu Xinjian: While pursuing economic profits, safety could never be neglected. It was always the top priority.

"If there is no safety, then all efforts are zero." In 2005, just being the general manager, Yu Xinjian came to the beach near the waters where "Dashun" sunk with all the management personnel, mourning , consoling the dead, and warning the staff.

Over the years, Yu Xinjian always regarded safety as the red line and bottom line. " Yu was always seen on the wharf in the early morning to check safety no matter whether it was windy or cold. Only by doing it personally could he rest assured. " During the interview, about Yu Xinjian’s woking habit, many employees responded spontaneously.

Yu Xinjian’s insomnia caused by intense work lasted for many years. However, no matter how busy, sleepy and tired, he would show up on time at the daily safety production scheduling meeting of the company at 8:00 a.m. except for business trip. Some employees even joked: "Only on the day of lunar new year, can we have the opportunity to linger in bed and sleep late." In fact, even on the new year’s day, Yu Xinjian would also board the ship to express greetings to the employees sticking to the front line. He has lived such life for 21 years.

According to Yu Xinjian, when the wind force reached Beaufort scale 6 or above, it should be reported to the general manager; the leaders of the company would lead the middle-level cadres to be on duty 24 hours a day, and found out the potential hazards on board once a half month; the management would sign the "safety responsibility certificate" at different levels, focusing on the "five preventions for personal safety" and "five preventions for public security", and strictly guarding the "Twelve Passes (procedures)". Under the leadership of Yu Xinjian, Bohai Ferry constantly improved the safety system and enhanced the ability of emergency response. The concept of safety has changed from safe production to safe development.

The profit of the company was getting larger day by day, but Yu Xinjian always kept a clear mind on safety. "For safety, everyone should keep an serious attitude, and there must be no carelessness allowed." He always took safety the first priority.

"Safety means survival for both working staff and the enterprise." Taking history as a mirror, the lessons learned from the sea accident have been transformed into the gene of Bohai Ferry, safety has been integrated into the blood of all employees, and has become the cornerstone of sustainable development of the enterprise.

In the past 21 years, there were no serious accidents and major public security cases happened in Bohai Ferry, for which it was named "High-safety-and-integrity Company" by the Ministry of transport for 10 consecutive years. In 2013, the safety production standardization work of Bohai Ferry was approved by the Ministry of transport, and Bohai Ferry became the first level-1 standard passenger transport enterprise within the shipping industry in China. At present, Bohai Ferry has achieved safety production for more than 6000 days.

Yu Xinjian: In Bohai Ferry, none of the staff was allowed not to be cured for failing to afford medical fees and none of the staff’s children was allowed not to be educated for failing to afford tuition fees.

"Uncle Yu, how are you? Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to write to me and encourage me. It is because of your support that I put myself into my studies without worrying about food and clothing. You have lighted a beacon for me in the spiritual world, and I have benefited greatly from those earnest teachings...” In February 2012, just after the Spring Festival, Yu Xinjian received a special letter by the son of an employee who died in the sea accident on November 24. Now, this young man has successfully graduated from Zhejiang University as a Doctor.

The staff’s daily life was always the matter Yu Xinjian worried about. If some was ill, he would contact the hospital in person. In order to solve the financial problem in medical treatment, he took the lead in donating money and proposed to set up a "caring fund for helping the needy". "In Bohai Ferry, none of the staff was allowed not to be cured for failing to afford medical fees and none of the staff’s children was allowed not to be educated for failing to afford tuition fees ". This is another bottom line that Yu Xinjian stick to.

"Staffs are the masters of an enterprise, and their happiness index is the most important indicator to measure the harmonious development of an enterprise." For running the enterprise, he insisted on relying on the staff, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the staff, winning the understanding and support from the staff, thus to realize mutual benefit and win-win situation between the enterprise and the staff. The salary of the staff has been increased for 12 consecutive years, with an average annual growth rate of 8%; the proportion of the staffs' housing provident fund has been increased from 3% to the maximum limit of 12%; an enterprise annuity system has been established. Apart from paying "five insurances and one fund" for the staff according to law, the company has also purchased comprehensive family property insurance, accident insurance and supplementary medical insurance for the staff. Both the enterprise and the staff shared the benefits with each other.

In 2018, Bohai Ferry initiated the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and equity incentive plan mode in order to achieve an agreement in the action objectives on decision-making, management and executive levels, and improve production and operation efficiency. 255 senior executives and ship technical backbones participated in the comprehensive ESOP, with a subscription rate of 97.33%. A total of 192 million yuan was raised, with an average capital contribution of more than 750000 yuan.

In the eyes of enterprise employees, Yu Xinjian was a strict but amiable leader. He respected each of his employees and provided them with a fair and orderly platform for competition, a relaxed and comfortable environment for career development. His life was simple and plain. He never put up a front. He would share a twin-bed room with his subordinates every time if on business trip and would like to listen to the voice of the grassroots. In Bohai Ferry, he told his staff to offer better service to the customers, but regarded himself the servant for his working staff.

"The roc flies up to ninety thousand miles in the wind". Today, led by Yu Xinjian, Bohai Ferry has established the long-term goal of building a world-class Ro / Ro passenger transport enterprise and striving to become an internationally well-known shipping company for operating a first-class fleet, mastering the first-class technology, exercising first-class management and providing first-class services, to expand shipping business and make contribution to the construction of greater power in transportation. Yu Xinjian and his team are always on the way.

 

Honor list

In 1993, "Excellent Communist Party Member" by Yantai Municipal Committee

In 1995, " Outstanding Youth of Yantai City"

In 1996, “Outstanding Young Entrepreneur of Yantai City"

In 1998,"Golden Anchor Award" by National Committee of Chinese Seamen &     Constrction Workers’ Union

In 2007, “May 1st Labor Medal” by Yantai Municipal Trade Union

“May 1st Labor Medal” by Shandong Provincial Federation of Trade Unions 

In 2008, "Model Worker of Shandong Province"

In 2010, “Comprehensively Evaluated Outstanding Individual among Yantai Enterprises”

In 2011, “Safety-Production Contribution Award” by Shandong Provincial        Government

In 2011, "Outstanding Individual for Culture Construction among National Transportation       Enterprises "

In 2012, Deputy to the 16th Yantai People's Congress

In 2013, Deputy to the 12th Shandong People's Congress

In 2016, " Outstanding Entrepreneur of Yantai City 2015"

In 2017, "Outstanding Individual for His Meritorious Contribution to Economic             Development" by Yantai Municipal Government

In 2018, "Outstanding Entrepreneur for His Caring about Employees " by Yantai Munuicipal             Government;

"Outstanding Entrepreneur of Shandong Province for His Contirbution to     Saftey-Production " by ‘Safety-Productin Cup’ Organizing Committee ;

"Outstanding Individual for National Defense Mobilization" by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission, the National Defense Mobilization Department of the Central Military Commission