At least 60 percent of the shipbuilding-related equipments in China are imported from overseas, which has become a bottleneck for the country's growing shipbuilding sector, said an industry insider on Wednesday.

He Rongguang, chairman and general manager of Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Corporation, one of the country's leading shipbuilding companies, told Xinhua that China is facing the challenge of stagnancy in shipbuilding equipment manufacturing.

China now ranks as the third largest shipbuilder in the world after the Republic of Korea and Japan. China's annual shipbuilding capacity is expected to hit 25 million tons by 2010, which will be based on the domestic-made shipbuilding equipments, said He.

He suggested domestic shipbuilding companies should take steps to tackle the problem and enhance cooperation with the steel industry to upgrade domestic productivity.

Statistics showed that China built new ships with a total tonnage of 12 million in 2005, or 18 percent of the world total.

Source: Xinhua