At the moment when the Ministry of Natural Resources released the "Statistical Bulletin of China's Marine Economy in 2025", a figure was recorded in history -11018 billion yuan. This is the first time that China's marine economy has reached the level of 11 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.5% over the previous year, and its proportion of GDP has increased to 7.9%.

Behind this impressive performance report, a silent industrial revolution is unfolding in the deep blue waters. The added value of the marine manufacturing industry reached 3523.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%, leading the overall marine economy in terms of growth rate. The dual engines that drive this blue express train are offshore wind power and offshore oil and gas equipment. From nearshore to deep sea, from shallow water to deep water, China is redefining the boundaries of its marine economy with its independent innovation and hard core capabilities.

Breakthrough of Wind Power Advancing into the Deep Sea

In 2025, the newly added grid connected capacity of offshore wind power in China will increase by over 60% year-on-year, with a cumulative grid connected capacity of 44.61 million kilowatts, ranking first in the world for five consecutive years. Behind these numbers is the rapid advancement of technology.

Dongying, Shandong, the world's largest 26 MW offshore wind turbine with single unit capacity, is connected to the grid for power generation; The world's first 16 MW high-capacity floating offshore wind power system has been assembled in Beihai, Guangxi. As wind turbines move from nearshore to deep offshore, from fixed to floating, Chinese wind power professionals are tackling one world-class challenge after another. It is expected that by 2030, the installed capacity of offshore wind power will reach 150 million kilowatts, accounting for 10% of the electricity consumption along the eastern coast. In this blue land, wind is becoming the cleanest energy source.

The historical leap of deep-sea oil and gas

In the deep waters hundreds of kilometers away from the coast, another battle is underway. In 2025, China's first deepwater oil field, the secondary development project of Liuhua Oilfield, will be fully put into operation, with a daily crude oil production of 3900 tons.

The support for this surge in production capacity is a 428 meter high "deep-sea giant tower" - the "Haiji-2" deepwater pipeline platform. This steel structure with a total weight of over 50000 tons integrates multiple globally leading technologies, marking a historic leap in China's ability to develop complex deep-water oil reservoirs. At the same time, the independently developed seven function robotic arm for deep-sea unmanned remotely operated vehicles has been applied for the first time, making China one of the few countries in the world that has mastered the full set of deep-sea submersible technology. The production of offshore crude oil and natural gas increased by 3.4% and 17.0% respectively year-on-year, and deepwater is becoming a new battlefield for energy supply.

Global leader in offshore equipment

When the focus turns to marine engineering equipment, a more exciting fact emerges: China has been the world's largest market share for marine engineering equipment for 8 consecutive years, with new marine engineering orders, delivery orders, and handheld orders accounting for over 40% of the world's total.

The added value increased by 10.2% year-on-year, driven by a concentrated breakthrough in high-end equipment such as deepwater pipeline support platforms and cylindrical floating production storage and unloading devices. From catching up to running parallel, and then leading the way, Chinese offshore equipment companies have completed a comeback in eight years. Looking ahead to the 15th Five Year Plan, Minister of Natural Resources Guan Zhiou stated that he will launch major national science and technology projects to comprehensively enhance deep-sea perception, detection, and development capabilities, and vigorously develop emerging industries such as deep-sea equipment and blue medicine depots.

The ocean is transforming from a treasure trove of resources to an industrial highland. 11 trillion yuan is just the beginning.Editor/Gao Xue