China’s EV battery giants wade into shipbuilding to bolster Beijing’s dominance

Chinese-made pure electric-powered container vessels were also set to extend Beijing’s lead over global rivals in shipbuilding, according to industry officials and analysts.

CATL, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) battery producer, announced recently that its self-developed pure electric vessel would sail the oceans in three years, reinforcing the company’s ambitions of building itself into a global new-energy powerhouse.

“Their investment and efforts to build pure electric container vessels show China’s increasing influence in the global shipbuilding industry,” said Xiong Hao, assistant general ­manager at Shanghai Jump International Shipping. “It remains to be seen whether electric vessels will be widely accepted by global container liners.”

CATL, which holds a 38 per cent share of the global EV battery market this year, began developing the shipbuilding applications in 2017 and has since supplied batteries to 900 vessels, all operating in rivers.