Developing New Productivity | Targeting "Major National Equipment" and Cultivating Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Talents

A loud clang of steel echoed from the seaside. "Clang, clang, clang..." Entering the production workshop of Nantong Haituo New Energy Equipment Technology Co., Ltd. in the Tongzhou Bay Demonstration Zone, workers were energetically rushing to meet deadlines. The workshop was operating in an orderly manner, sparks flying from welding, and the sounds of steel colliding frequently. Currently, Dou Jianhe, the head of Haituo New Energy, is leading his team in a rush to deliver the base of a new energy wind propulsion system for Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. in Japan. (This project is a new energy project, consisting of a paraglider flying at approximately 300 meters above sea level, utilizing wind power to propel vessels, reducing the load on the main engine, achieving an average 20% reduction in fuel and emissions. The classification society is NK inspection.)

 

Haituo New Energy settled in the high-end equipment port industrial park of the Tongzhou Bay Demonstration Zone in 2020. It mainly engages in bridge construction, shipbuilding, offshore drilling platform construction, offshore wind power engineering construction, large-scale special steel structures, electromechanical engineering, and painting engineering. Recently, the company manufactured two of the largest marine oil transfer hose winches in China for the Shanghai COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry FPSO project. This equipment project was designed by a Dutch company, with extremely high technical content. The products passed the inspection by DNV and the Dutch headquarters client on the first try. At the same time, Haituo also undertook the manufacturing and painting of the bow anchor platform section and stern thruster of the world's first fourth-generation self-elevating wind power installation vessel for COSCO Shipping in Qidong. This wind power vessel is the most advanced and has the largest lifting capacity in the world. Haituo New Energy continuously overcame technical requirements and construction difficulties, ensuring the successful delivery of all special sections of this wind power vessel. This is another milestone for the company in terms of process improvement, skilled worker training, and technological innovation in the offshore engineering market.

Nantong boasts a geographical advantage with its riverside and coastal location. It is home to numerous "national heavyweights" in the shipbuilding and offshore engineering fields and is striving to build a 100-billion-yuan shipbuilding and offshore engineering industrial cluster. Tongzhou Bay, as the main battlefield and base for high-quality development along the coast of Nantong, is experiencing a golden period of development. In just a few years, numerous port-based high-end equipment manufacturing projects have flocked to this "hot land." As one of them, Haituo New Energy has gradually established itself in the industry, receiving a steady stream of orders from central and foreign enterprises.

During this year's National Two Sessions, Dou Jianhe paid particular attention to the buzzword "new productive forces." Xi Jinping's important speech at the Jiangsu delegation's deliberation emphasized: "The development of new productive forces does not mean ignoring or abandoning traditional industries." This greatly inspired Dou Jianhe, encouraging him to throw himself into his work. "Shipbuilding and offshore engineering, while traditional industries, also rely on new productive forces." In Dou Jianhe's view, to truly form new productive forces in his field, talent cultivation is key, and industrial upgrading and transformation cannot be separated from the support of skilled workers.

Dou Jianhe is a veteran with over 20 years of experience in the shipbuilding and offshore engineering industry. From traditional manual cutting to automated CNC cutting; from small ships of several thousand tons to giant ships of hundreds of thousands of tons, Dou Jianhe has witnessed the gradual rise of China's shipbuilding and offshore engineering industry. He believes that high-end equipment requires excellent skilled workers. Technological innovation and design improvements are becoming a trend, but ultimately, it is the frontline personnel who execute. Skilled workers (welders) will be the most in-demand in the future. Cultivating skilled workers is essential for the grand undertaking of high-end equipment in the "new productive forces."

Currently, China has a labor force advantage in the number of relevant employees, but there is a shortage of highly skilled workers, and the workforce also faces an aging problem. Dou Jianhe said that China's shipbuilding and offshore engineering industry is moving towards globalization and internationalization, and our talent must also catch up with the world in terms of work efficiency, technical content, and ideological quality. We must enable these medium-skilled workers to play a pivotal role in the future new industrialization.

With a positive outlook for the shipbuilding and offshore engineering industry, Dou Jianhe is also planning for the future cultivation and reserve of medium-skilled technical personnel. He told reporters that the company will absorb some skilled workers from other related industries in China who have age advantages, experience, and skills to cultivate future skilled talents in the offshore engineering industry. At the same time, the company will establish connections with vocational schools, regularly recruiting hardworking graduates and training them within the company. Due to the long training cycle and environmental factors, the attrition rate is high, making the cultivation of such talent a long and arduous task.