In early July, a shipyard along the Yangtze River in Jiangyin, East China's Jiangsu province, was humming with the sounds of welding and hammering.

In one berth, work on an oil tanker was nearing completion, while a hospital ship was undergoing a major retrofit. A little distance away, dry docks were operating at full throttle.

CSSC Chengxi Shipyard Co, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp, saw its export value surge by more than 28 percent year-on-year in the first five months. With orders lined up through 2028 and a growing appetite for high-tech vessels, this shipyard is powering full steam ahead.

"We are steering toward transformation," said Yang Haibo, the shipyard's assistant president. "Take the 41,800-ton self-unloading vessel we built last year; its value hit $96 million, triple that of a conventional bulk carrier. We just secured an overseas order to build a 44,000-ton self-discharger in May."

As global demand shifts, Yang said Chinese shipyards are embracing greener and smarter solutions to remain competitive, including ramping up investment in next-generation shipbuilding technologies.