A pivotal port city connecting two major economic zones, handling immense trade flows; a shipbuilding hub where manufacturing fuels services, setting sail steadily; and an innovative membrane technology that transforms seawater into valuable resources, driving green upgrades. These scenarios illustrate that the ocean is a strategic high ground for quality development, with the marine economy taking centre stage in Tianjin's advanced manufacturing ambitions.
Born from its waterways and thriving along its coast, Tianjin possesses multiple advantages for advancing a high-quality marine economy. Aligned with its designated role as "One Base, Three Zones," the city is seizing the momentum to delve deep into the blue economy. Strengthening advanced manufacturing through marine industry growth is both an inevitable trend and a core mission for the region.
This "blue" holds significant depth and substance. It encompasses traditional powerhouses like offshore oil and gas and green petrochemicals transitioning toward higher value-added and refined operations, as well as entirely new frontiers such as marine robotics and deep-sea equipment. It extends from manufacturing sectors like new materials and biomedicine to interconnected services like shipping and logistics. With vast scope for integrating the marine economy with advanced manufacturing, Tianjin has abundant potential and opportunities to explore.
Where to begin? Delving into the blue economy calls for precise and strategic planning at the outset. Today's marine economy has a broad scope, where integrating land-sea linkages, port-industry-city synergies, and coordinating surface and subsea activities all demand comprehensive, systematic approaches. Using collaboration in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region as a strategic guide, the push for open, ocean-focused development is not a solo effort for one locality or enterprise. Instead, it requires coordinated action within a broader framework and a longer industrial chain. This entails concentrating on leading enterprises, key projects, and existing capacity. It means supporting businesses of all sizes, embracing both innovation and established operations, and providing services, insights, assistance, and empowerment for companies. The goal is to strengthen chain-leading enterprises that provide traction while also cultivating specialised and innovative "little giant" firms. Through interconnected upstream and downstream operations and mutual empowerment across large, medium, and small enterprises, a more balanced and resilient industrial ecosystem will emerge.
The crucial element for success lies in tailoring strategies to local conditions. To ignite the vitality and unlock the full potential of the sea, Tianjin must play its distinctive industry cards to build a unique competitive edge. At the construction yard of Tianjin BOMESC Offshore Engineering Co., Ltd., gantry cranes rise and fall in orderly fashion while production lines operate at full speed. A living quarter module for an offshore oil and gas platform, nearly 140 metres tall and weighing about 1,000 tonnes, is rapidly taking shape before final commissioning and delivery to overseas markets. This stands as evidence of the company's accelerated shift towards high-end operations and serves as a microcosm of Tianjin's efforts to fast-track specialised sectors like offshore engineering equipment, seawater desalination, and offshore new energy. By capitalising on comparative advantages and identifying new opportunities within local resource endowments, the city is enhancing its marine industries in line with regional conditions. In doing so, Tianjin's unique identity in the marine economy is being translated into ever-clearer "deep blue business cards" and a steady stream of new quality productive forces from the ocean.