Jon Windham News

China published a set of guidelines to support and develop its shipping industry on Wednesday, sending shares in shipping firms such as China COSCO and China Shipping higher. The world's biggest trading nation is focusing on the shipping industry as it looks to secure its supply chains and grows more assertive over territorial disputes in the South China Sea, unnerving neighbours such as Vietnam and Japan. China will introduce tax and other regulatory reforms while pushing shipping firms to upgrade and modernise their fleets to build an efficient, safe and environmentally friendly shipping system by 2020, the State Council, China's cabinet, said in a statement published on its website.

Reuters - Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings Ltd, a top Chinese shipbuilder, plans to build more mega container ships for shipowners eager to cut operating costs. Yangzijiang is China's third-largest listed shipbuilder by market capitalisation and has boasted profit margins that dwarf those of domestic and overseas peers. Yangzijiang is ready to hand over its first mega container ship in March, which can move around 10,000 standard twenty-foot (TEU) containers, and is planning to build vessels that can handle up to 18,000 boxes.