China should increase its oil shipping capacity to ensure steady oil flows to the world's second-largest user amid concern of potential supply disruptions, state media reported on Thursday.
"To ensure oil security, Chinese tankers should account for at least 60 percent of its oil imports' transport capacity," the China Daily reported, quoting Luo Ping, a researcher with the Institute of Comprehensive Transportation under the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner. Chinese tankers carried some 16 percent of the oil it imported in 2006 and the country aims to lift the proportion to 50 percent after 2010.
China will build more oil tankers to meet the demand from rising imports and reduce its dependence on foreign carriers, the report quoted Peng Cuihong, an official at the Ministry of Transportation, as saying. Peng declined to reveal how many oil tankers would be built, but there had been speculation that the transportation ministry had fast-tracked the building of 90 oil tankers, the newspaper said.
The report did not give details on the size of the tankers. Around 85 percent of oil imports carried by foreign-flagged vessels is acceptable, the newspaper said in an editorial. But China needs to improve self-reliance in ocean shipping to feel more comfortable, it said.
A top official from China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co (COSCO), China's top shipping firm, had indicated that China needs 70 very large crude carriers (VLCC) to be self-sufficient in transporting its crude oil.