China’s shipbuilding industry has grown rapidly in recent years, becoming big enough to take on traditional shipbuilding powerhouses in South Korea and Japan. However, behind the industry’s ascent lies an important fact—despite years of heavy government subsidies, Chinese shipbuilders still lack important innovations.
In South Korea, the country’s three biggest shipbuilding companies—Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering—plan to lay off over 3,000 employees in the second half of 2018 due to poor sales, according to an Aug. 13 article by South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo. The large-scale layoff has very much to do with their Chinese counterparts: They have dominated the world’s shipbuilding market and pushed out competitors through heavy government support for Chinese firms.
