The Development of China's Shipping Industry and Its Demand on Vessels

摘要

Ladies and gentlemen, First of all, please allow me, on behalf of the Ministry of Communications of the People's Republic of China, to express my warm congratulations on the opening of the 8th Marintec China Conference & Exhibition and wish the conference a great success. On the occasion of this grand international maritime event, I would like, on behalf of the Ministry of Communications, to give the presentation on the present situation and development of China's shipping industry to all delegates, our friends in maritime and shipbuilding industries and journalists of mass medium present at this conference. Since 1994, the world economy has come to a new cycle of development. According to the forecast made by IMF, the world economy in 1995 will continue to grow slightly on the basis of 1994, which will stimulate the world trade. The increase of world trade will definitely provide the opportunity for development of world maritime industry since over 80% of world commodities are carried by sea. However, the problem that the supply exceeds demand in world shipping market has not been solved fundamentally. According to the statistics of Lloyd's, the total capacity of the world merchant fleet amounted to 690 million dwt by the end of April 1995, about 10% more than the total demand of 628 million dwt during the same period.