China Merchants Industry Qingdao Shipyard Co., Ltd. has announced tender plans for a smart integrated workshop project, alongside lifting equipment expansion at its Rushan base.
The smart workshop project will require total investment of about 1.005 billion yuan, or about $147 million. Located in the Tianheng Island Provincial Tourism Resort in Jimo District, Qingdao, the project is planned as a digital and intelligent shipblock production base for high-end shipbuilding and offshore engineering equipment.
The project covers about 147,068 sq m of land, with a planned construction area of 69,000 sq m. Phase I includes a 55,000 sq m smart integrated workshop and supporting facilities. Four smart production lines will be installed with more than 330 intelligent production devices for cutting, machining, welding and plate flipping. At full production, the base is expected to produce 100,000 tonnes of ship blocks per year.
The Rushan base will also add lifting equipment through self-raised funds of 11.65 million yuan. The procurement covers 39 sets of equipment. Workshop No. 1 will receive 16 gantry cranes with hoists, while Workshop No. 2 will add 17 units, including 16 single-girder electric hoist gantry cranes and one 20 t electromagnetic gantry crane. Outdoor areas will receive three single-girder gantry cranes and three double-girder gantry cranes.
The Rushan base is a high-end shipbuilding and offshore engineering equipment manufacturing facility established by China Merchants Shipbuilding Group in Rushan, Weihai. It serves as a core area for capacity expansion and intelligent infrastructure development by China Merchants Industry Qingdao Shipyard Co., Ltd.
Since its acquisition and rebranding in 2025, the yard has expanded its equipment and completed upgrades. New 50/100 t and 50/70 t gantry cranes have been installed to improve outfitting and construction efficiency. A 10,000 sq m site east of the machining workshop has also been upgraded and put into use, addressing storage constraints for outfitting materials and limited panel assembly space.
Originally established in 1949 as the state-owned Qingdao Shipyard, the yard was renamed after joining China Merchants Group’s shipyard network. It is set to serve as a construction base for the group’s three main ship types, with products including bulk carriers, container ships and offshore engineering vessels.
The shipyard covers 750,000 sq m and has a 1,090 m outfitting quay with water depth of 8–11 m. It operates two dry docks measuring 480 m by 76 m and 180 m by 28 m. The yard also has two 600 t gantry cranes, one 150 t gantry crane and more than 2,000 production equipment sets, supporting annual steel processing capacity of 150,000 tonnes and annual shipbuilding capacity of 1.2 million dwt.
