Nanfang Daily: *Interview with Tang Xiuguo, President of Sany Group: Guangdong will become a highland for marine industry

In April this year, the foundation stone of Sany Marine Heavy Industry Industrial Park was laid in Zhuhai. Zhuhai Sany Marine Heavy Industry Industrial Park includes:Port machinery, engineering ships and marine equipment three business segments, covering an area of 6,000 acres, with a total investment of 20 billion yuan. According to the plan of Sany Group (hereinafter referred to as "Sany"), the third phase of the project is expected to be completed by 2015, when the annual output value will reach 30 billion yuan.

At a time when the offshore engineering equipment manufacturing industry (hereinafter referred to as "offshore engineering") is becoming a global hot spot, as the first star enterprise in China's equipment manufacturing industry with a market value of hundreds of billions, from land to sea, how will Sany profoundly affect the pattern of the offshore industry? At a time when Guangdong has elevated the "marine strategy" to a new strategic height, how can Sany achieve mutual benefit and win-win results with Guangdong, seize the supremacy of the marine industry, and drive the transformation and upgrading of the regional economy?

A reporter from Nanfang Daily recently interviewed Tang Xiuguo, President of Sany Group, to interpret the industrial logic of Sany Offshore under the global vision and Guangdong strategy.

 

　　The offshore base is built in Zhuhai

 

Nanfang Daily: Why did Sany choose to build the offshore base in Zhuhai?

Tang Xiuguo: First of all, Zhuhai has good waters and good climate. Offshore habitat is mainly outdoors, and it is not safe to engage in this in the north in winter, so the good climate is the advantage of Zhuhai. Second, with the support of the government, the leaders of Guangdong Province and Zhuhai City have repeatedly cared about the Sany project. In our industry, the results are not fast, and the understanding and support of the local government is very important.

Nanfang Daily: The marine strategy is becoming an important strategy in Guangdong, and the current establishment of an offshore engineering base in Zhuhai also reflects the government's thinking.

Tang Xiuguo: Sany believes that Guangdong Province has a vision. China can miss a company, but it can't miss the opportunity to enter the ocean. China is different from other small countries, small countries can exchange resources for technology, and resources for equipment, but China can't exchange them, and China's maritime modernization can only be achieved by China's own equipment. If Guangdong can seize the opportunity in this process, it will surely become a leader in China in the "ocean age".

Nanfang Daily: Will Sany's project help form a complete marine industry ecology in Zhuhai and Guangdong?

Tang Xiuguo: We believe that Zhuhai will soon have this strength. In Houston, USA, it is the Chinese who really master the technology, and they have mastered 80% of the technology of offshore engineering. In the future, we will recruit these Chinese users to Zhuhai. Zhuhai is a livable city, and he will definitely like Zhuhai more. Now Zhuhai's business has just started, and even the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has not yet been opened, at this time they are still holding a wait-and-see attitude, but I believe that in the future, they will not hesitate to give priority to Zhuhai. It is hoped that through us, we can drive the entire industrial cluster to form a good industrial ecological environment. We can conclude that in Zhuhai in the future, there will be a large number of small and medium-sized supporting enterprises to be driven.

 

From terrestrial to marine technology

 

Nanfang Daily: In fact, offshore engineering equipment has become very popular, and many shipbuilders are actively turning to offshore engineering. The industry is also relevant to them. But for Sany, it is actually from land to offshore engineering, and this field is different. What are the advantages of Sany?

Tang Xiuguo: There are advantages in this, what Sany lacks in entering the ocean is marine engineering technology, but in fact, Chinese shipyards also lack this technology. What we can't do compared to them is the hull. Although shipbuilding enterprises can make hulls, they can't make equipment on them. If the working gear and hull are combined as a single unit, the hull may account for 10 to 20 per cent of the technical content for offshore engineering, but 80 to 90 per cent for the equipment on board. Although we have not done marine machinery, we have a complete set of approximate technologies. In the process of transferring technology from land to marine vessels, we will not follow the old path, but will innovatively realize the transfer of core technologies from land to sea ships through technology research and development. * After successfully owning the ability to build an "offshore factory".

Nanfang Daily: Were there any difficulties in this conversion process?

Tang Xiuguo: It's difficult, it's very difficult. When we go international, if we lack technical strength, we can go abroad to set up a company and engage in R&D, but the cost of R&D abroad is very, very high. This project is particularly in need of talents, and our company has a group of very outstanding users. In order to facilitate exchanges at home and abroad, we have established a technology platform, through the Internet connection, in the R&D environment in which the Chinese and American sides can not only work in parallel, but also work in different time zones. Sany's technology platform is currently unique in our country's equipment manufacturing industry and shipbuilding industry.

 

Guangdong will become the first marine engineering base

 

Nanfang Daily: What is Zhuhai's position in Sany's global strategic layout of offshore engineering?

Tang Xiuguo: R&D and manufacturing base. There is both R&D and manufacturing. In the future, our port machinery, engineering ships, marine heavy industry, offshore equipment and other businesses will all be in Zhuhai.

Nanfang Daily: In Sany's global strategy, will Guangdong become the most eye-catching place for the offshore industry in the future?

Tang Xiuguo: That's right. We are based in Guangdong and look at the world. Offshore engineering is a very collaborative industry in the world, and the equipment and technology are shared globally on a platform for Sino-foreign cooperation and assistance. Therefore, our *5656 goal is three 10 billion projects, 10 billion port machinery, 10 billion heavy machinery, and 10 billion engineering ships. But tens of billions of marine heavy industry is not a problem of tens of billions, now the scale of marine heavy industry is very large, and the global market is almost hundreds of billions of dollars every year. It is predicted that China's construction machinery in the next five years will be about 400 billion to 500 billion yuan. The offshore market must be a global market, and the global market is a 100 billion project, involving more than 100 billion US dollars.

Nanfang Daily: In order for Guangdong to become the first offshore engineering base, what does the government need to do in your opinion?

Tang Xiuguo: In my opinion, the government is the two responsibilities. *5656 to create a level playing field; Second, more encouragement should be given to enterprises when they start in the early stage. Whether it is Zhuhai or Guangdong Province, in order to become an important base and the first base of China's offshore equipment, we must look at the total cost of the enterprise in Zhuhai and the fairness of the competitive environment.