Breaking through with its dual-core strategy, this low-key province is quietly taking the center stage.

According to the official WeChat account of "Equipment Industry Development Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology", the Equipment Industry Development Center of MIIT recently conducted a special research on the development of the electric ship industry in Fuzhou and Ningde, Fujian Province. The research team went deep into key enterprises upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to learn about the latest progress in electric ship technology R&D, general assembly construction, demonstration application and industrial ecosystem construction.

The research team successively visited ship general assembly enterprises including Southeast Shipyard, ship design institutes such as Fujian Ship Research Institute and Fujian Changhang Research Institute, as well as power supporting enterprises including EVE Electric Ship, CSSC Saisiyi, and Zhizhi Xinghang. In the next step, under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Equipment Industry Development Center will strengthen exchanges and cooperation with relevant units such as the Fujian Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology to jointly promote the high-quality development of the electric ship industry.

Driven by the accelerated low-carbon transformation of global shipping, the continuous implementation of domestic water transport emission reduction policies, and the declining cost of power batteries, the development of the electric ship industry is accelerating in an all-round way.

Third-party institution EVTank predicts that the market size of the electric ship industry will reach 36.75 billion yuan in 2026, and the demand for lithium batteries will exceed 11.2GWh.

While the market is heating up, a reconstruction of the industrial chain is already underway.

In 2025, multiple departments including the Ministry of Transport jointly issued the "Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Inland Waterway Transport", which clearly proposed to accelerate the scenario application of battery power technology, LNG, and methanol power technology on various types of ships with different transport distances.

In July 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "15th Five-Year Plan for Industrial Green and Low-Carbon Development", which further proposed to actively develop power ships powered by batteries, methanol, ammonia, hydrogen and other fuels, and accelerate the application of new energy for inland waterway vessels.

As the province with the most complete electric ship industrial chain in China, Fujian is quietly seizing the first-mover advantage.

As early as 2017, Fujian took the lead in launching the "Electric Fujian" construction across the country. In 2023, Fujian issued the "Implementation Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting the Construction of 'Electric Fujian' (2023-2025)", building a policy support system covering the entire industrial chain of electric ships.

Benefiting from the strong foundation of the lithium battery new energy industry, Fujian has become the region with the fastest promotion of electric ships in China. By the end of 2025, the number of classed electric ships completed and under construction in Fujian Province accounted for 35.6% of the national total, ranking first in China. It has basically formed a complete industrial chain covering design, construction, supporting and application, with nearly 100 electric ship demonstration projects put into operation.

Fuzhou and Ningde are the two core fulcrums supporting Fujian's electric ship industry.

Relying on its profound shipbuilding heritage and R&D capabilities, Fuzhou undertakes the "brain" function of general assembly construction and technical breakthroughs; Ningde, with the industrial advantage of "World Lithium Battery Capital", provides the "heart" of the power system for ships, and at the same time builds an important production base for Fujian's electric ships based on Fu'an.

At present, Fujian has set a higher goal.

In March this year, the "Fujian Province Electric Ship Industry Development Action Plan (2026-2028)" was issued, proposing to form the serialized supply capacity of electric ships and core equipment by 2028, with the scale of the entire industrial chain reaching 50 billion yuan, and promote the electric ship industry to become an advanced and advantageous industry in Fujian Province.

This article is from the WeChat official account "City Evolution Theory", author: Liu Yanmei, published with authorization from 36Kr.