People's Daily Front Page: Guangdong Accelerates the Promotion of High-Quality Development of the Marine Economy

"Everyone is putting in full effort, striving for the joint test run in October." During this period, installation engineer Lin Jinxiong has been busy every day at the project construction site, rigorously ensuring construction quality. "As a Communist Party member, I must do my job well, contribute to the construction of high-quality marine industrial projects, and actively welcome the convening of the 20th National Congress of the Party through practical actions."

People's Daily Front Page: Guangdong Accelerates the Promotion of High-Quality Development of the Marine Economy

Tower cranes stand tall, and pipe galleries wind their way with nearly 8,000 workers welding pipes and installing equipment day and night. In the green chemical and hydrogen energy industry park of Maoming, Guangdong, the first phase of the East China Energy (Maoming) comprehensive utilization project for alkane resources is under intensive construction.

"Everyone is putting in full effort, striving for the joint test run in October." During this period, installation engineer Lin Jinxiong has been busy every day at the project construction site, rigorously ensuring construction quality. "As a Communist Party member, I must do my job well, contribute to the construction of high-quality marine industrial projects, and actively welcome the convening of the 20th National Congress of the Party through practical actions."

Walking along the coastal areas of Guangdong, such hot construction scenes are everywhere. From Nanao, Shantou, to Shenquan, Jieyang, from Shajiao, Yangjiang, to Xuweng, Zhanjiang, the marine engineering equipment, offshore wind power, and other billion-dollar marine industrial clusters have taken shape. In Maoming, Zhanjiang Donghai Island, Guangzhou, and Huizhou Dayawan, the five major petrochemical integrated bases have expanded production and increased efficiency. In the enthusiastic atmosphere of welcoming the 20th National Congress of the Party, the cadres and masses along the coast of Guangdong are working together to accelerate the promotion of high-quality development of the marine economy, contributing to the creation of a new development pattern for the entire province.

On September 6, BASF (Guangdong) Integrated Base Project, invested by Germany's BASF Group in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, held a comprehensive construction and the commissioning ceremony for the first set of equipment. After completion, the project will become BASF's third-largest integrated production base globally. Not only BASF, but major near-port industrial projects with investments exceeding tens of billions of US dollars, such as ExxonMobil and CNOOC and Shell, have made significant progress this year, helping to shape and trend the world-class coastal petrochemical industry belt in Guangdong.

In the waters near the Leimen Islands in the southern part of Nanao County, Shantou, on the vast blue waves, 35 sets of 7-megawatt wind turbines constructed and operated by China Datang Group Corporation stand tall against the wind. Before the end of this year, the expansion project of Datang Shantou, with a capacity of 352,000 kilowatts, will start construction, further expanding the scale of Guangdong's offshore wind power. Qiu Jiashu, Director of the Guangdong Provincial Maritime Bureau, introduced that in 2021, Guangdong's new investment in offshore wind power exceeded 70 billion yuan, and the newly added capacity accounted for nearly one-third of the country's total.

Welcoming the 20th National Congress of the Party has become a powerful support for leading the development and growth of the marine economy in Guangdong.

In early September, Guangdong Province successfully completed the annual task of offshore seafloor basic data survey. In addition to 17 manned operational ships, there are also 5 unmanned ships independently developed by Zhuhai Yunzhou Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. "We have obtained more than 390 authorized patents and overcome many key technologies such as autonomous navigation, perception and obstacle avoidance, and collaborative control of unmanned ships." said the person in charge of Zhuhai Yunzhou Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.

At present, Guangdong has basically formed a collaborative innovation system for marine technology, including "laboratories + popular science bases + collaborative innovation centers + enterprise alliances," with more than 140 provincial and higher-level marine research and development platforms covering marine biotechnology, marine disaster prevention and reduction, marine drugs, marine environment, and other fields.

According to the recently released "Guangdong Marine Economy Development Report (2022)," in 2021, Guangdong's total marine production value reached 1.9941 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.6%, accounting for 22.1% of the national total marine production value, ranking first in the country for 27 consecutive years. According to the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Guangdong's Marine Economy," Guangdong will focus on building and improving the marine industry ecological chain, creating five marine industry clusters with

 a scale of over 100 billion yuan; cultivating four demonstration areas, including marine high-end industry agglomeration and marine technology innovation leadership, to lead the green and efficient development of the marine economy from the aspects of marine industry, technological innovation, regional coordination, and ecological development.

"We must deeply understand the responsibilities and missions of Guangdong as a maritime province and effectively regard the sea as a strategic position for high-quality development. We will accelerate the pace of marine technological innovation, improve the capability of marine resource development, and foster and strengthen strategic emerging industries in the marine sector." said the relevant officials of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee.