In the 1970s and 80s, two serious economic crises occurred in the Western capitalist world, which triggered widespread inflation and the decline in the industrial production index.

In the 1970s and 80s, two serious economic crises occurred in the Western capitalist world, which triggered widespread inflation and the decline in the industrial production index. The proud shipbuilding industry in Europe and the United States began to decline, and the center of the global shipbuilding industry moved to East Asia, forming a ship production base centered on Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.

Before the South Korean shipbuilding industry rose, Taiwan's shipbuilding industry was second only to Japan. At its peak, the annual production capacity of Taiwan Shipbuilding (full name Taiwan International Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.) in Kaohsiung, Taiwan was almost the sum of all the production capacity in the mainland, which shows how strong it is.

Rome was not built in one day. Taiwan's shipbuilding industry began with the "Taiwan Shipbuilding Company" founded in Keelung in the 1940s. During Chiang Ching-kuo's administration in the 1970s, Taiwan launched the "Ten Constructions" campaign, and the Kaohsiung Shipyard, which cost $210 million, was one of them. Its annual shipbuilding capacity reaches 1.5 million dwt, and it has built two 445,000-ton oil tankers, the Berman Endeavor and the Roman Enterprise. This giant tanker is 378.4 meters long and 68 meters wide. It is the third largest oil tanker in the world and the largest tonnage ship built in China's shipbuilding history.

Taiwan shipbuilding industry is mainly concentrated in Kaohsiung in the south and Keelung in the north. Shipyards in Kaohsiung area include China Shipbuilding Company Kaohsiung General Factory, Qingfu Shipyard, CITIC Shipyard, etc. Keelung is a shipbuilding center in northern Taiwan, and its main shipbuilding companies include the Keelung General Factory of China Shipbuilding Company and the South China Shipbuilding Company. These shipyards are mainly built on merchant ships, oil tankers, and fishing boats. They occasionally take over specialized ships such as warships, patrol boats, speedboats, ambulance boats, training boats, etc. placed by the authorities. In the late 1970s, in order to enhance the competitiveness of Taiwan's shipbuilding industry, some shipyards in Taiwan carried out integration and mergers. In the mid-1980s, Taiwan's annual shipbuilding capacity exceeded 1 million tons, second only to Japan. Entering the 1990s, the world economic situation has improved, and Taiwan's new ship order volume reaches 3 million dwt each year, ranking among the top five in the world. Although the order volume has increased significantly compared with the 1980s, the ranking has dropped by many places, the main reason is the rise of the mainland shipbuilding industry.

In 1996, Taiwan's shipbuilding industry completed 14 new ships, about 1 million deadweight tons. That year, the mainland's shipbuilding completed volume reached 1.1 million tons, accounting for 4.3% of the world's share, surpassing Taiwan and ranking fourth in the world. In 1997, the mainland shipbuilding volume was about 1.5 million tons, becoming one of the world's major shipbuilding powers, and the quality of shipbuilding reached the international advanced level. The ships produced have entered more than 50 countries around the world, and their exports are ranked first in the mechanical and electrical industry.

Since the late 1990s, the mainland shipbuilding industry seemed to be on the verge of cheating, one step a year. In 2010, it surpassed South Korea with a completion volume of 65.6 million dwt, ranking first in the world. 2011 was the peak of China's shipbuilding industry, with a completion volume of 76.65 million tons that year, and this record has not been broken so far. In recent years, global shipping has been in a downturn, but China's shipbuilding industry's annual completion volume remains stable at around 40 million deadweight tons.

Let’s look back at Taiwan. Since the late 1990s, Taiwan’s shipbuilding industry began to fall into recession. Now the annual shipbuilding volume is less than 700,000 tons, accounting for less than 1% of the global shipbuilding share. Taiwan’s shipbuilding industry is gradually being marginalized.

In the past, Taiwan shipyards hired graduates from top universities around the world. Now even graduates from university navigation majors have no intention of finding jobs in Taiwan shipyards. From one of the top three shipbuilding industries in the world in the past to being unknown and forgotten by people today, Taiwan's shipbuilding industry has entered dusk.

According to survey statistics, there are currently less than 10,000 shipbuilding practitioners in Taiwan, mainly small and medium-sized shipbuilding manufacturers, with an annual output value of less than US$1 billion, mainly for export. Considering the continued downturn in the global economy and the recession of the aviation industry, Taiwan's shipbuilding industry is destined to be difficult to restore its former glory!