Tiankun, Asia’s largest dredging vessel, is prepared for trial voyages in Qidong, a county-level city in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu province, on June 8, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

The Nantong shipping and ocean engineering equipment demonstration base was included on a list of 28 national five-star industrial centers, according to an announcement by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on April 1.

Only two industrial bases in Jiangsu province were included on the list, out of 332 entries nationwide.

The shipbuilding industry in Nantong saw stable growth in 2018, producing a total of 64 ships, with 28 exported to other countries. The combined carrying capacity of the ships was 2.77 million tons.

The city has taken steps to improve industrial structures, with the aim of promoting the coordinated development of high-end shipbuilding and the manufacture of ocean engineering and key corollary equipment.

Nantong was the birthplace of several world-class ships, including China's first 20,000-TEU container vessel and Asia’s largest dredging vessel.