Why did Liu Qiangdong invest 20 billion yuan and choose these three cities?

In a month, three cities, 20 billion—Liu Qiangdong’s “voyage into the sea” layout is rapidly expanding from the Greater Bay Area to the Bohai Rim.

On February 24, JD.com founder Liu Qiangdong, along with his independently established yacht brand Sea Expandary (Voyage Into the Sea Yachts), signed cooperation agreements with Zhuhai and Shenzhen respectively. The headquarters will be based in Shenzhen Qianhai, while the manufacturing facility will be located in Zhuhai. This single move directly commits 5 billion yuan.

In just one month, Voyage Into the Sea rallied north. On March 25, the Voyage Into the Sea yacht manufacturing base and the yacht operations project signed and settled in Dalian, with an investment amount as high as 15 billion yuan.

“Our family has always lived by ships for over 100 years, and I have special feelings for ships. Being a ship captain was a childhood dream.” Liu Qiangdong once talked about his original intention this way.

But clearly, to lavish 30.1k yuan on this dream is far more than just sentiment.

Yachts are considered the last—and the highest-end—“blank area” within China’s large industrial categories, with over 90% of the global market share held by Europe and the U.S. However, as the global yacht industry accelerates its shift toward green and smart development, China’s growing middle-class continues to expand. In Liu Qiangdong’s vision, “Voyage Into the Sea” will not only make high-end yachts, but also leverage the advantages of China’s local “three-electric” supply chain to drive the rollout of yachts in the 100k-yuan tier.

The three locations he picked span more than 2,000 kilometers. Each has different industrial bases and market space. How will they divide responsibilities and coordinate with one another? And can this dream of setting sail with heavy capital really carve out its own course in global waters dominated by European and American brands?

“Superyacht” built in Dalian

On February 24, right after “Voyage Into the Sea” made its debut, Liu Qiangdong told the media that he had already received orders for five “large yachts,” specifically 72-meter catamarans, with an average price of 60 million euros per yacht.

What does 72 meters mean?

In September last year, in Tianjin’s “Binhai New Area Yacht Leisure Tourism Industry Development Plan (Draft for Comments),” “large yachts” were defined as 18 to 24 meters, while “superyachts” were those above 24 meters. And at the end of last year, the country’s largest steel-class yacht “Atlantis” settled in Sanya, with a total length of 52 meters.

Judging from this, when Liu Qiangdong refers to “large yachts,” they already fall into the “superyacht” category. Converting into RMB, the per-yacht price is nearly 500 million yuan, and the total order value nearly reaches 2.4 billion yuan.

This also explains why “Voyage Into the Sea” is willing to invest 15 billion yuan to enter Dalian and set up the manufacturing base and the yacht operations project.

Compared with many coastal cities in China, Dalian has central state-owned enterprises based there and a fairly solid foundation in shipbuilding. Orders for four large-scale complete-ship assembly enterprises—including Dalian Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. (under China State Shipbuilding Corporation), COSCO Shipping, Hengli Heavy Industry, and China Shipping Kawasaki—already have schedules reaching 2029. In 2024, Dalian’s shipbuilding and offshore engineering equipment industry achieved an output value of about 62 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.7%. Annual shipbuilding capacity reached 12 million deadweight tons, placing the assembly and construction capability among the top in the country.

Hu Zhenyu, deputy director of the Qianhai Branch of the Comprehensive Development Research Institute (China Shenzhen), and head of the Institute of Sustainable Development and Marine Economy, told reporters that building yachts is certainly different from building cargo ships—it is a higher-end, more segmented field—but the customized production of large, even super, yachts places very high demands on ports, shipyards, and heavy-industry experience.

Industry insiders have a saying: “The larger the ships in the world, the larger the docks in Dalian Port.” Dalian’s giant shipyards, deep-water berths, and experience in heavy vessel engineering form its early-mover advantage in the yacht manufacturing industry.

According to news on the Liaoning provincial government’s website, the Voyage Into the Sea company will build in Dalian “customized high-end yacht production lines,” mainly engaged in R&D, design, and manufacturing of large yachts and their components, and it will integrate cutting-edge technologies such as新能源动力 (new energy propulsion) and smart driving. This not only activates Dalian’s strength in marine manufacturing, but also adds new elements such as “green” and “smart,” accelerating the century-old shipbuilding legacy toward a “innovation-driven” transformation.

Dalian’s assets are not just shipyards. As a leading window of opening up to the outside world in Northeast China and an important port of departure, Dalian has 30.1k square kilometers of sea area, a 2,211-kilometer coastline, and 538 islands. It has abundant resources in marine cultural tourism. Yacht ownership is number one in the country, with more than 1,800 registered yachts across the city.

The Voyage Into the Sea company’s layout also extends to the operations side—building a yacht service hub by operating a yacht-city “front-of-house” and a comprehensive service mother port in Dalian. It is understood that both sides will, leveraging the signing as an opportunity, jointly upgrade yacht industry technology, develop scenarios, strengthen industrial supporting capabilities, cultivate new consumer-use scenarios, and promote deep integration of culture and tourism, sports, and business.

With high-end manufacturing paired with high-end consumption, Dalian holds on to this 15 billion yuan windfall of wealth.

“The next car” made in the Bay Area

A customized high-end market is only the starting point.

“I hope that in the future we can build 100k-yuan yachts, so ordinary salaried workers can afford them too.” Liu Qiangdong’s ultimate vision is to make yachts a daily consumer product, berthed in the homes of ordinary people.

“Like how cars moved from fuel to new energy, and then to intelligent connected vehicles, green and intelligent development are also key directions for the yacht industry’s transformation.” Hu Zhenyu analyzed that traditional yachts have long been trapped in the “oil tiger” model—high fuel consumption, high emissions, high noise, and heavy maintenance. For small and medium-sized fuel yachts, the hourly sailing cost can easily be several hundred to several thousand yuan; for large yachts, they are even worse in terms of waterborne fuel consumption. Not only are the entry barriers high, it also runs counter to the global trend of carbon neutrality and tightening maritime environmental regulations.

In Liu Qiangdong’s plan, all Voyage Into the Sea yacht products will use new energy and be fully automated. Across the country, especially in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area—particularly Shenzhen—there is a highly mature supply chain for动力电池 (traction batteries), motors, and motor controllers. Moreover, the capability of the “three electrics” is expanding from land and air to the sea.

For example, BYD’s energy storage and Italy’s yacht giant Sanlorenzo have already reached a strategic cooperation agreement to promote the suitability development of lithium iron phosphate batteries in yachts. Related solutions from Inovance Technology have also achieved batch applications across scenarios such as ship electrical propulsion, shaft generator sets, wind power installation platforms, marine construction floating cranes, and new-energy electric inland vessels.

Therefore, Voyage Into the Sea’s headquarters was chosen to be in Shenzhen. According to the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Marine Development, Voyage Into the Sea will set up its operations in Shenzhen in core areas including yacht R&D and design, yacht sales and operations, yacht supply chain management, yacht exhibitions, and cultural-tourism development. In particular, it will focus on categories such as intelligent yachts and electric yachts. Relying on Shenzhen’s industrial chain and supply chain advantages, it will expand “lithium battery +” applications and improve the level of yacht R&D and design.

On the other hand, as yachts move toward mass affordability, their size will inevitably shift toward small and medium categories, making them more suitable for everyday scenarios such as family outings by sea and weekend leisure.

With manufacturing bases also set up in parallel, Zhuhai’s role clearly complements Dalian. According to an agreement signed between the Zhuhai municipal government and Zhuhai Voyage Into the Sea Yacht Technology Co., Ltd., Voyage Into the Sea will focus on building a modern and intelligent high-end yacht manufacturing base in Zhuhai. It will concentrate on R&D and innovation centers in fields such as new energy propulsion technologies, intelligent driving systems, and new materials. It will also provide a yacht operations service center for the entire lifecycle and a professional bonded repair center.

Zhuhai Voyage Into the Sea Yacht Technology Co., Ltd. is registered in Jinwan District, Zhuhai. And Ping Sha Town in Jinwan District is the first—and currently the only—yacht specialty town in China.

According to public information, the Ping Sha Yacht Industrial Park, built in 2002, has a local supporting rate of over 85%. Within 10 square kilometers, 68 yacht-related enterprises are clustered, including 32 yacht manufacturing companies and 36 supporting and operations service companies. Representative companies include Jieteng Shipbuilding, Aiyang Technology (Sunbird Yachts), Jiahang Yachts, Eliat, and Tiandyu Yachts.

Hu Zhenyu told 21st Century Business Herald that, unlike Dalian’s heavy, high-end customized route, the yacht enterprises in Ping Sha are mainly private. Leveraging local supply chain supporting capabilities, they achieve modular design and assembly-line mass production—precisely the key to pulling the entry-level yacht price from several hundred thousand or even over a million yuan down to the 100,000-yuan level.

Relying on the Greater Bay Area’s industrial chain and mass production capacity, yachts are shifting from the past “rich people’s toys” to the family’s “next car.”

The eve of a surge in industry

Liu Qiangdong’s “captain dream” chose to drop anchor in three cities one after another. Though far apart, they just connect north and south, cleverly linking the entire industrial chain of R&D, manufacturing, marketing, and services.

However, as the popularization of new-energy vehicles took more than a decade, for yachts to reach the general public still faces pain points such as expensive berthing, cumbersome approvals, incomplete supporting infrastructure, and insufficient scenarios. And these three cities are each working to solve these issues within their own waters.

In December last year, Dalian rolled out the “Implementation Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of the Cruise Yacht Industry,” listing 23 specific tasks with the intention of turning the yacht industry into a new engine of economic growth during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period.

For example, on the infrastructure and supporting side, Dalian will promote the construction of two yacht marinas at Suoyu Bay Jinggu Terminal and Manhua Terminal, and it will also drive the renovation and upgrading of three existing core terminals and their service centers, including Xinghai Bay, Donggang, and Tigers’ Reef. In terms of cultural, sports, tourism, and commerce integration, targeting a major popular activity for yacht outings—deep-sea fishing—Dalian is developing a citywide fishing map and a service list, creating the brand “Catch Big Fish in Dalian,” and cultivating high-end leisure products that integrate “deep-sea fishing + dining + sightseeing.”

Beyond manufacturing cost advantages, Dalian has even stronger confidence from the huge nearby markets of Hong Kong and Macau, as well as global demand.

As a yacht industry headquarters project with the largest investment scale in China, shortly after its landing, Guangdong Province announced the establishment of a Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao yacht freedom-of-navigation joint meeting mechanism. The “Responsibilities of the Office and Member Units of the Joint Meeting Mechanism for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Yacht Freedom of Navigation,” issued in parallel, provides detailed task assignments for each unit and promotes coordinated management across the whole chain.

With only one bay separating it from Shenzhen, Hong Kong is Asia’s largest and most mature yacht import market, with more than 100k—though not all—registered yachts? (The text says 12.5k艘.) Let’s keep original: “more than 12.5k registered cruising yachts.” Shenzhen is close by and can absorb the spillover in yacht demand. As Shenzhen’s only designated berthing port for the “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Yacht Freedom of Navigation,” the Shenzhen Bay Yacht Club already has more than 300 yacht entries from Hong Kong and Macau into Qianhai.

At a press conference for its earlier “Several Measures for High-Quality Development of Maritime Service Port Navigation,” Shenzhen also disclosed that it will strengthen the connectivity of mechanisms among the three places, including establishing a “two sets of plates” management mode for Hong Kong and Macau yachts, drafting a licensing and certification management approach for Hong Kong and Macau yacht captains to operate yachts in Guangdong waters, and expanding the area of Shenzhen’s freedom-of-navigation waters.

“China’s yacht industry is at the eve of a boom.” Hu Zhenyu told 21st Century Business Herald that, at present, many regions are simplifying yacht certification, registration, and departure approval. They are promoting the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao yacht freedom of navigation, expanding the opening of public waters, and accelerating the construction of public berths, charging and resupply facilities, and rescue networks. Long-standing barriers such as “you can’t afford to stay, you can’t sail far, and oversight is too strict” are gradually being dismantled under the push of industry strength and policy support.

The Ministry of Transport has data showing that in the past three years, the number of yachts in China has grown rapidly. Newly registered yachts account for about 54.7% of the total yacht count. As of the end of 2025, China has 9,850 registered and valid yachts. It is expected that during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, growth will continue.

Meanwhile, according to statistics from the International Council of Yacht Brokers and Agents (ICOMIA), the total number of yachts worldwide has exceeded 34 million, with the United States ranking first globally by size with over 15 million yachts. This market gap also implies enormous room for growth.

“Manufacturing is different from the internet. It may take ten or twenty years, and you need to earn global consumers’ recognition through quality, technology, and green environmental protection.” As Liu Qiangdong said, this “Voyage Into the Sea” journey about the ocean, about manufacturing, and about consumer upgrades is just getting started.