Chinese seafood giant Chishan Group has entered the shipbuilding industry with the acquisition and restructuring of Shandong Baibuting Shipbuilding, a historic yard located in Rongcheng, Shandong province. The newly renamed Shandong Fulton Shipbuilding marks the group’s strategic expansion amid a broader revival of private-sector shipyard assets across China. The deal involves the 100% acquisition of the shipyard—originally established as Rongcheng Haida Shipbuilding in 1953—with plans unveiled to modernise the dormant facility so that it can build ships as well as repair them. Located on both banks of Lidao Bay in Rongcheng, the yard boasts more than 400,000 sq m of usable land and 2,000 m of natural coastline, offering ample space for constructing large dry docks and inclined slipways. The site had long served as a production hub for fishing vessels, bulk carriers, and containerships. Under the ownership of Baibuting Group from 2007, it aimed to scale to an annual output of over 1.2m dwt by 2012. But like many mid-sized private yards, the facility struggled during the post-2008 global shipping downturn, ceasing new order intake after 2012. Chishan’s acquisition arrives as major Chinese shipyards operate near full capacity following a multi-year order boom. Constraints on production slots have triggered renewed interest in dormant or underutilised private yards, with over a dozen acquisitions or restarts reported since 2023. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); });