Chinese offshore-rig builders aim for top spot (4)

In a mid-to-long term ocean-equipment industry development plan the government issued in March 2012, it said the country expected to boost its share of the global offshore energy equipment industry to 20 percent by 2015 and to 35 percent by 2020, from less than 8 percent in 2011, and nurture five to six world-class companies that are set to have annual revenue of 40 billion yuan each by 2020.

"The key obstacle to achieve that goal is to establish a full supply chain of offshore equipment building in China," says Yu Ya, the president of CIMC Raffles, which plans to be one of the five to six world-class companies that China aims to have by 2020.

"I can find all the suppliers our company needs in Singapore in two hours, but in Yantai even if I spend two days searching, I may still end up with no suitable suppliers at all."

It is sometimes frustrating to think that a high-end manufacturing company like his has fewer options for suppliers than a local seafood factory, he says.