DM Staff
QINGDAO: The Shandong Ocean Development Results Exhibition opened in Qingdao’s West Coast New Area, offering a sweeping look back at the province’s progress toward becoming a maritime powerhouse over the past five years — and a preview of what’s next.
Staged as part of the 2026 Ocean Cooperation and Development Forum, the exhibition is themed “Studying the Ocean to Build a Strong Province, Leading the Way for Another Five Years,” marking Shandong’s 14th Five-Year Plan achievements in maritime development. More than 50 groups and over 100 exhibits are on display, tracing the province’s transformation from a major marine economy into a genuine ocean power — and laying out the blueprint for the 15th Five-Year Plan period, which begins this year.
A Milestone Moment
Officials say the timing is deliberate. With 2026 marking both the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan and a critical juncture in Shandong’s maritime development strategy, the exhibition serves a dual purpose: reviewing five years of results while distilling lessons that will guide the next phase.
The numbers underline the scale of that progress. Shandong’s marine economic output grew from 1.3 trillion yuan in 2020 to 1.9 trillion yuan in 2025, placing the province second nationally. Six of its marine industries — including fisheries, aquatic product processing, marine chemicals, mineral extraction, salt production and marine power — rank first in the country by added value. Coastal port cargo throughput hit 2.19 billion tons, keeping Shandong at the top of the national rankings for a fourth consecutive year. The province is also home to 71 national-level marine ranching zones, accounting for 38 percent of the national total, and 24 academicians in oceanography — roughly a third of China’s total in the field.
Telling the Story Through Design
The exhibition itself is built around a “one axis, five zones” layout, using a “blue timeline” as its organizing thread. Visitors move through the space following that timeline, encountering in sequence: the province’s maritime strategic planning, a five-year construction overview, signature industrial achievements, and core technological breakthroughs — before arriving at the vision for the next five years.
Among the standout exhibits are some genuine engineering firsts: the world’s first 100,000-ton deep-water semi-submersible production and storage platform, “Deep Sea One”; the world’s first 150,000-ton smart aquaculture vessel, “Guoxin 1”; and Asia’s first cylindrical floating oil production and storage unit, “Haikui 1.” Together, these “Made in Shandong” achievements — several setting world records — point to the province’s shift toward high-end, intelligent, green and innovation-driven marine industries.
Looking to the Next Five Years
Officials from the Shandong Provincial Ocean Bureau say the exhibition is meant to build broader public awareness of and engagement with marine affairs, in support of national and provincial goals to build China into a maritime power. Looking ahead, the province says it will pursue land-sea coordination, technology-driven maritime development, industrial clustering, ecological protection, open cooperation and efficient governance as it works to write the next chapter of its “blue economy.”
