This morning (September 16th), the opening ceremony of the 2025 National Advanced Manufacturing Cluster for High-tech Ships and Offshore Equipment (Nantong) Development Promotion Conference and the Ship and Offshore Industry Exhibition was held at the Nantong International Conference Center. 

Mayor Wu Xinming, President of the China Shipbuilding Industry Association Guo Dacheng, and Deputy Director of the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology Li Feng delivered speeches. Deputy Mayor and Mayor Zhang Tong presided over the event. Finnish Consul General in Shanghai Ji Annuo, Indonesian Consul General in Shanghai Han Bepang, and Japanese Consul General in Shanghai Okada Shige, among others, attended the event and jointly opened the exhibition of the shipbuilding and offshore engineering industry.

Wu Xinming briefly introduced the economic and social development situation of Nantong in his speech. He said that over the past century, Nantong has always focused on the shipbuilding and maritime industries as its leading sectors and has persisted in deepening its development. Currently, the scale of the shipbuilding and maritime equipment industries in Nantong now accounts for 1/10 and 1/4 of the national total respectively. It has successfully become a national advanced manufacturing cluster and a pilot city for the construction of an industrial chain and supply chain ecosystem. At present, the global shipbuilding and maritime industry is at a critical stage of green transformation and intelligent upgrading. He stated that Nantong will optimize its industrial layout, cultivate a group of globally influential leading enterprises and a complete upstream and downstream industrial chain, and accelerate the transition from "assembly manufacturing" to "total contracting integration"; adhere to the integration of production and innovation, build a collaborative innovation system of "leading enterprises + research institutes + supporting enterprises", promote industrial transformation and upgrading, and accelerate the transition from "scale leadership" to "high-end leadership"; lead the transformation of the mode, build an efficient, agile, clean and safe modern industrial system, accelerate the transition from "traditional manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing"; strengthen the support of elements, promote the upgrading of high-end service industries to professional, international and brand-oriented, deepen industry-education integration, increase financial support, form a full-element support system, and accelerate the transition from "basic configuration" to "system empowerment". He sincerely invites global partners to be the partners of Nantong's "ocean dream", share new opportunities in Nantong, explore new blue seas together, and jointly write a new chapter of high-quality development of the shipbuilding and offshore engineering industry.

Guo Dacheng said in his speech that Jiangsu is the largest shipbuilding province in China, and Nantong is the leading force in Jiangsu's shipbuilding and marine engineering industry. It has filled many domestic gaps in new marine engineering equipment and special ship construction. Although the current economic operation is facing many risks and challenges, the shipbuilding and marine engineering industry in Nantong has withstood the pressure and overcome difficulties, fully demonstrating the strong resilience and vitality of the industry. The Nantong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Industry Exhibition is an important window and platform for Chinese shipbuilders to unswervingly do their own things, with high-quality development providing certainty to cope with external uncertainties, and promoting the continuous stable and healthy development of the industry. We hope all sectors will work together and create the future, and jointly contribute wisdom and strength to the prosperous development of China's shipbuilding and marine engineering industry.

Li Feng said in his speech that Jiangsu is accelerating the construction of advanced manufacturing clusters with international competitiveness. It will earnestly implement the national deployment of "building the world's largest and most comprehensive ship manufacturing cluster covering all types of ships in the Yangtze River Delta region", better leverage the leading role of the Tongtaiyang National Cluster, focus on building a "three-in-one" development pattern of "innovation-driven - regional collaboration - open integration", comprehensively enhance the industrial foundation capabilities and modernization level of the industrial chain, accelerate the construction of a modern ship industry system, and build the world's first-class high-tech ship and offshore equipment cluster in the country.

Chief expert Hu Keyi of China Shipbuilding Group delivered a special report titled "Innovation - New Driving Force for the Transformation and Development of the Ship and Marine Industry". The governments of Nantong City and the Shanghai Changxing Island Development and Management Committee, as well as the government of Shanghai Chongming District, signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly build a world-class ship and marine industry cluster. They also signed strategic cooperation agreements with China Classification Society and the 708 Institute of China Shipbuilding Group. 16 key projects were concentratedly signed, covering aspects such as supply chain procurement, comprehensive credit granting, and bank-enterprise cooperation.

At the scene, a promotional video titled "Building a World-Class Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering Cluster" was also played. The China Classification Society released the "Guidelines for Offshore Hydrogen Production Facilities 2025", the "China Shipbuilding Industry Yearbook 2025" by the China Shipbuilding Industry Association, and the "New Technologies and New Products in the 2025 Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering Industry of Nantong City".

This event is jointly organized by the People's Government of Nantong City, the China Shipbuilding Industry Association, the China Shipbuilding Engineering Society, and the Tongtai Yang High-tech Ship and Offshore Equipment National Advanced Manufacturing Cluster. It is themed "Developing New Quality Production Capacity in the Ocean and Building a World-Class Industrial Cluster". Through exhibitions of the ship and offshore equipment industry, innovation products and concentrated press conferences, it showcases the latest achievements and development trends in the ship and offshore equipment fields. The ship and offshore equipment industry exhibition lasts for three days, with over 500 enterprises participating, including more than 60 well-known international enterprises and international institutions from countries and regions such as Finland, the Netherlands, France, and Japan. 

Leaders from relevant departments and sections of Shanghai, responsible officials from the Provincial Department of Transport, the Provincial Association of Science and Technology, and the Provincial Port Group, representatives from Japanese, Korean, Finnish, Danish, Indonesian and Egyptian embassies and consulates, heads of commercial institutions, representatives of well-known domestic and foreign shipbuilding and marine engineering enterprises, experts and scholars from universities, research institutes, classification societies and industry associations, as well as relevant leaders from the Party Committee, the Standing Committee of the People's Congress, the Government and the Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference attended the event. 

After the opening ceremony, the participants also visited the exhibition of the ship and marine engineering industry.