China’s Hengli Shipyard meteoric rise includes world’s longest drydock

China’s Hengli Heavy Industries Chairman Chen Jianhua is proposing to build the longest drydock in the world after the shipbuilder became one of the world’s biggest shipyards in just four years.

Americans interested in reviving shipbuilding in the United States can learn from the Hengli success story.

Hengli Heavy Industries plans to build the world’s longest dry dock in a new $1bn capacity drive focused on VLCCs (Very Large Crude Carriers ): “It marks the latest project in the rapid rise of Hengli under Chinese billionaire Chen Jianhua, who bought the bankrupt facilities of STX Dalian and has built one of the largest orderbooks in the industry. Shipbuilding players said the 1.2-km-long by 146-metre-wide dock would enable Hengli to construct four full and two half-length big tankers at a time,” according to a maritime news report in TradeWinds

Global Shipping

The company says it is making plans for “Hengli Heavy Industry Group Co., Ltd., focusing on shipbuilding, offshore engineering, engines, precision casting, and other sectors. In August 2024, to fully leverage the industrial advantages of the Hengli Heavy Industry Industrial Park and accelerate the cultivation and development of new quality productive forces, Hengli Heavy Industry commenced construction of its "Future Factory" project. This project primarily focuses on the manufacturing of high-value-added green ships and high-end offshore equipment, including Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGCs), Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCVs), Floating Production Storage and Offloading units (FPSOs), offshore floating wind power facilities, and drilling platforms. The goal is to build a modern, intelligent, and green world-class shipbuilding and offshore equipment manufacturing industrial base. Upon reaching full production capacity, Hengli Heavy Industry is projected to process 2.3 million tons of steel annually, produce 180 engines per year, and achieve full coverage of LNG, LPG, methanol, and ammonia dual-fuel engines.”

Chen Jianhua Person of the year: 2025

In December 2025, TradeWinds pronounced “Person of the Year: Chen Jianhua has resuscitated a shipyard giant to leave Korean rivals ‘very worried.’”

The report went on to say: ‘TradeWinds Person of the Year’ Chen Jianhua has propelled his revived Hengli Shipyard into the global top tier, reinforcing China’s dominance in world shipbuilding”

The award was justified because:

“Chinese billionaire Chen Jianhua has been catapulted from relative anonymity to one of the world’s dominant shipbuilders in the past year. Chen, who dropped out of school at the age of 13, has dipped deep into his own pockets to fund the rise, which began when he bought a bankrupt shipbuilder in 2022.

Rather than scouring the market for new business to occupy the empty slipways of what had been STX Dalian, Chen’s Hengli Group began to resurrect the shipyard with orders from its own account. A contract for four 20,000-dwt bulkers from his private petrochemical company was a modest beginning for the rebranded Hengli Heavy Industry Group.

What industry watchers describe as the resuscitation of one of the world’s largest shipbuilding facilities gathered its first international momentum in the spring of 2023 with its first overseas contract, from Greek owner Laskaridis Maritime.”

CMA CGM Contract

CMA CGM is the latest shipping company to turn to China’s Hengli Heavy Industry for newbuildings, “Multiple shipbuilding sources said the French liner giant has contracted the shipyard to build eight 6,000-teu container vessels. The deal was reportedly signed during the Posidonia exhibition in Athens last week,” according to TradeWinds.

Keys to success

Hengli's success has been based on several advantages:

• The shipbuilder’s sister company is refiner Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co and so it had money and resources to invest in shipbuilding and order ships for its oil business. In April 2026, the refiner was cited by the United States: “…the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned China-based independent teapot refinery Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co., Ltd. (Hengli). China-based independent teapot refineries continue to play a vital role in sustaining Iran’s oil economy, and Hengli is one of Iran’s largest customers for crude oil and other petroleum products, having purchased billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petroleum.” Hengli Petrochemical denied any trade ties with Iran.
• According to an April 2026 Bloomberg report, oil volatility from the Iran war “… lifted the fortunes of Fan Hongwei and her husband, Chen Jianhua, who together built Hengli Group into one of China’s biggest energy companies.”

Fan is now worth $7.7 billion and Chen $7.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Fan, 59, is the public face of the Hengli empire (and the seventh richest woman in China in 2020), which is one of China’s largest private oil refiners. She serves as chair of Hengli Petrochemical while her husband Chen is chair of parent firm Hengli Group. Their daughter, Chen Yiting, has held roles including heading Hengli Petrochemical’s international business in Singapore. Their son, Chen Hanlun, is president of their Guangdong Songfa Ceramics Co.

• Hengli acquired the assets of Korean shipbuilder STX at Dalian, China, and used those resources and Korean shipbuilding expertise to build up its business.
• Guangdong Songfa Ceramics, part of Hengli Group, had long struggled to capture consumer demand, particularly the growing preference for low prices. Meanwhile, Hengli Heavy Industry, the shipbuilding subsidiary, had grown substantially and was short of funds for capital investment and research and development, according to a Nikkei Asia report: Hengli Group, sensing an opportunity, announced the backdoor listing plan in October 2024. After receiving approval from authorities, Guangdong Songfa Ceramics made Hengli Heavy Industry a wholly owned subsidiary in May 2025. The ceramics company's core business was changed to shipbuilding, the report said.

Hengli Heavy Industry: Dalian Shipyard History 

Founded in 2006 by Korean conglomerate STX, the STX Dalian shipyard had a boom in its first years of operation. By 2012, as the shipbuilding sector entered a slump, growing financial troubles at the parent company became apparent. STX Dalian entered bankruptcy in 2015, but repeated attempts at an auction failed to find a buyer, and it sat idle until 2022, according to Maritime Executive.

According to Hengli Heavy Industry Group Co., Ltd: Development History:

On July 1, 2022, Hengli Heavy Industry Group Co., Ltd. was established.

On April 18, 2024, the naming and delivery ceremony for Hengli Heavy Industry's first ship was held in Dalian Changxing Island. The first vessel built by Hengli Heavy Industry Group Co., Ltd. was delivered ahead of schedule.

On December 1, 2024, Guangdong Songfa Ceramics Co., Ltd. released a draft of its plan for issuing shares to purchase equity in Hengli Heavy Industry Group Co., Ltd. Upon completion of the transaction, Songfa officially exited the household ceramic products manufacturing industry, embarking on a comprehensive strategic transformation and upgrading towards becoming the "World's Most Dynamic Growth Shipyard".

On May 16, 2025, Guangdong Songfa Ceramics Co., Ltd. announced that its application for a major asset replacement, issuance of shares to purchase assets, and fundraising for coordinated efforts related to a connected transaction had received registration approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

In September 2025, Hengli Heavy Industry Group Co., Ltd. “underwent an industrial and commercial registration change, with its registered capital increasing from 3 billion yuan ($429M) to 6.9 billion yuan ($960M), a 130% increase.”

In September 2025, the Hengli Heavy Industry Cooperation Innovation and Offshore Engineering Technology Industrial Park commenced construction in Dalian Changxing Island.

On November 27, 2025, Hengli Heavy Industry “received an order from the Singaporean shipping giant Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) for three types of new vessels, totaling 12 ships, including six 306,000 dwt VLCCs, two 157,000 dwt LNG dual-fuel crude oil tankers, and four 6000 TEU container ships.”

On December 25, 2025, Hengli Heavy Industry “signed orders with several internationally renowned shipowners for 11 new ships, covering four 6000 TEU container ships, four 180,000 dwt Capesize bulk carriers, two LRII type product tankers, and one 82,000 dwt bulk carrier, with a total contract value of approximately US$6-10 billion. The new ships are scheduled for delivery between 2027 and 2028.”

On December 29, 2025, Hengli Heavy Industry successfully “signed contracts for seven new shipbuilding projects during the final phase of its 2025 business undertakings. This included two 306,000 dwt VLCCs, four Capesize bulk carriers, and one Suezmax tanker. Among them, the owner of the two VLCCs and the four Capesize vessels was disclosed as the Greek shipping giant Capital (owned by Greek shipowner Evangelos Marinakis), while the Suezmax tanker came from a well-known Norwegian shipping company. By this point, the number of ships contracted by Hengli Heavy Industry for the year 2025 had reached 115 vessels, with a total business undertaking value exceeding one hundred billion RMB, concluding the year on a strong note.”

South Korea Ties

News reports say the Chinese shipyard has continued to benefit from strong South Korea connections.

In 2023 Trade Winds reported:” South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has expanded its shipbuilding capacity further by enlisting China’s Hengli Heavy Industries — formerly STX Dalian Shipbuilding — to build large hull blocks and help to resolve a looming labour shortage.

Shipbuilding sources said Hengli will be constructing hull blocks for Evergreen Marine’s 20 container ship newbuildings of 15,000 teu, which the liner company commissioned SHI to build in 2021. Delivery is slated between this year and 2025.”

In 2025, Nikkei Asia reported that when Hengli Heavy delivered its first completed ship, a large bulk carrier, in April 2024, “executives from Samsung Heavy Industries attended the ceremony. The two companies announced a collaboration in the construction of high-value-added ships and technological development.”

Guangdong Songfa Ceramics' disclosure documents show “Hengli Heavy hired nearly 100 new engineers to work on development and design between January and June of this year (i.e.2025), 22 of them South Korean nationals. Hengli Heavy, which relied on South Korea for the personnel and materials necessary to grow, will find it easier to raise funds in the future with stock market access,” according to the Nikkei Asia report.