Industry Overview of Marine Equipment Supply

Release Date:

2026-04-09

The marine equipment supply industry refers to the sector that produces and manufactures all shipboard equipment and systems except the hull itself, primarily encompassing power plants, steering systems, cargo-handling equipment, and safety equipment. Together with shipbuilding and ship repair, it forms a complete maritime industrial ecosystem. Marine equipment accounts for approximately two-thirds of the total value of a vessel, making the marine equipment supply industry a vital component of the shipbuilding sector and a key determinant of the industry’s development.

Industry Overview of Marine Equipment Supply

　　The marine equipment supply industry refers to the sector that produces and manufactures all shipboard equipment and systems excluding the hull itself, primarily encompassing power plants, steering systems, cargo-handling equipment, and safety equipment. Together with shipbuilding and ship repair, it forms a complete maritime industrial ecosystem. The value of marine equipment accounts for approximately two-thirds of the total value of a vessel, making the marine equipment supply industry a vital component of the shipbuilding sector and a key determinant of the industry’s development.

　　From the perspective of shipment rates, the development of China’s supporting industries has gone through three phases: “high-level growth,” “sharp decline,” and “steady recovery.”

　　High-End Development: In the 1980s, China’s marine equipment industry, bolstered by the introduction of foreign technologies for manufacturing marine auxiliary equipment and by substantial state-sponsored support, essentially met the shipbuilding demands of the time, with the domestic content of installed equipment reaching over 80%.

　　Sharp Decline: During the Ninth Five-Year Plan period, more than 90% of the state’s R&D investment in the shipbuilding industry was directed toward the development of ship products. As a result, China’s shipbuilding support industries lagged behind the shipbuilding sector, with the localization rate of supporting equipment installed on ships falling to 30%.2 In particular, shipboard electrical and automation systems were virtually non-existent domestically, leaving the industry heavily reliant on imported products.

　　Steady Recovery: Since the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period, the rapid development of the shipbuilding industry has increasingly highlighted the growing gap between the shipbuilding sector and its supporting industries, severely constraining the overall growth of China’s shipbuilding industry. In response, the state has placed greater emphasis on and increased investment in the shipbuilding support industry, particularly from the late Fifteenth Five-Year Plan period through the early Eleventh Five-Year Plan period, when it successively issued documents such as the “Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan for the Shipbuilding Industry” and the “Eleventh Five-Year and Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan for the Shipbuilding Support Industry.” Under the support and guidance of this series of policies, the localization rate of marine equipment installed on ships has steadily risen. The Thirteenth Five-Year Plan Outline further set the goal that by 2020 China’s capabilities in the manufacturing of high-tech vessels, offshore engineering equipment, and key supporting equipment would be significantly enhanced, enabling China to join the ranks of the world’s leading nations in offshore engineering equipment manufacturing and become a major global producer of supporting equipment. With the release of “Made in China 2025,” the plan aims for China to become a world-leading shipbuilding power by 2020; to establish a relatively complete industrial system and standardization framework covering the design, final assembly and construction, equipment supply, and technical services for offshore engineering equipment and high-tech vessels; to ensure that its core capabilities in the design and manufacture of major equipment rank among the world’s top; to continuously enhance the international reputation of leading enterprises; and to achieve international market shares of 35% for self-designed and built offshore engineering equipment and 40% for self-designed and built high-tech vessels. The introduction of this series of policies will undoubtedly promote the healthy development of China’s shipbuilding industry.