The added value of the ship building and maintenance sector in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province, increased 37.9 percent year-on-year in the first four months of this year, according to authorities.

One of the key reasons behind the increase is that orders for product tankers are showing a rapid growth trend expected to extend over the next few years.

Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard Co recently signed contracts with shipowners from Singapore and Europe to build two and eight 115,000-metric-ton vessels respectively, a record high this year.

This is the first time Changhong received orders to build the environmentally-friendly LR2 tankers, and it now has 40 orders to build such vessels, with the shipping schedule arranged up to the end of 2027.

The city's ship repair business has also increased sharply. Changhong has expanded its repair business from bulk cargo ships to chemical tankers, ro-ro ships, cable ships and oil tankers, and finished repairing more than 50 vessels in the first quarter of this year.

Other shipbuilding enterprises such as Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry Co and Tsuneishi Group have also received more repair orders this year.