CSSC
China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) is the world’s largest shipbuilding group, a Chinese central state-owned enterprise headquartered in Shanghai. Its place in ocean mining runs through its vessels and subsea equipment: it designed and built the Mengxiang (Dream), China’s first domestically developed ocean drilling vessel, which entered service on November 17, 2024, and its research institutes build deep-sea mining vehicles, lifting systems and survey ships.
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Overview
- The original corporation was formed in 1982 from the Sixth Ministry of Machine Building. In July 1999 it was split into two groups, CSSC and China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC); the two remerged in November 2019 under the CSSC name.
- A central state-owned enterprise under SASAC, with major yards including Jiangnan Shipyard, Hudong-Zhonghua, Dalian Shipbuilding and Huangpu Wenchong.
- The group reported 2023 revenue of ~US$48.9 billion with ~196,000 employees.
- Its 701 Research Institute designed the Da Yang Hao ocean survey vessel, which made its maiden voyage to the western Pacific in January 2020.
- In December 2023 a deep-sea polymetallic sulfide mining vehicle developed within the group completed shallow-sea trials, and in July 2024 the group reported a breakthrough in heavy-duty deployment and recovery equipment for deep-sea mining.
- Its 702nd Research Institute co-developed China’s first intelligent mixed-transport (slurry lifting) system for deep-sea mining, sea-trialed in 2021 under CRIMM’s program.
The Mengxiang
The Mengxiang is China’s first domestically designed and built ocean drilling vessel, developed over ten years as a national science and technology project led by the China Geological Survey of the Ministry of Natural Resources, with >150 organizations involved. It was designed by CSSC’s 708 Research Institute and built at Huangpu Wenchong in Guangzhou.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Role | Ocean scientific drilling, deep-sea oil and gas exploration, and natural gas hydrate exploration and trial production, in one vessel |
| Named and first sea trial | Dec. 18, 2023 |
| Entered service | Nov. 17, 2024 |
| Drilling capability | 11,000 meters of drill string, enough to target the Mohorovicic discontinuity |
| Size | ~33,000 gross tonnage, 179.8 meters long, 32.8 meter beam |
| Range | 15,000 nautical miles |
| Station keeping | DP-3 dynamic positioning on an energy-storage closed-loop power grid; operates in sea state 6 and is built to survive a category 16 typhoon |
| Cost position | Design gross tonnage >40% below comparable international drilling vessels, with operating costs the group puts >40% lower |
The vessel completed its first trial ocean drilling expedition in the South China Sea in September 2026, a 30-day voyage organized by the China Geological Survey. It cored two wells in 4,100 meters of water and recovered 4.27 meters of basalt core from the ocean basin. The maximum drilled depth was 4,929.17 meters, with a maximum penetration of 864.77 meters below the seabed. The China Geological Survey announced the result on September 28, 2026.
CSSC’s stated aim for the vessel is an ocean drilling ship that scientists around the world can afford to use, supporting international scientific drilling programs as well as Chinese national projects.
Ownership
CSSC is wholly state-owned through SASAC. The group sits above a family of listed subsidiaries; the deep-sea research institutes and the group parent are not themselves listed.
Listed exposure
The flagship listed arm is China CSSC Holdings (SSE: 600150). In 2025 it absorbed the group’s other main listed platform, China Shipbuilding Industry Company (601989), whose Shanghai listing was terminated on September 5, 2025, making China CSSC Holdings the world’s largest listed shipbuilder. The group also controls CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering (SSE: 600685, HKEX: 317). All are shipbuilding businesses; none is a direct read on the group’s deep-sea mining equipment work.