The new technical standards for newbuildings come as the country’s legislature is developing the National Defence Transport Law, which aims to pay Chinese shipbuilders a subsidy to cover the cost of making ships militarily useful, the state-run China Daily reports.

The technical standards announced by the China Classification Society cover containerships, ro-ros, multipurpose ships, bulkers and other ships, the newspaper says.

People’s Liberation Army researcher Cao Weidong told China Daily that it is “common practise” to build in militarily useful features on civilian vessels.

“Modern naval warfare often requires the mobilisation and deployment of a large number of ships while the mass production of naval ships in peacetime is not economically sensible,” he said.

While China’s state-controlled shipbuilders already take military needs in mind when constructing merchant vessels, the new rules also impact the country’s privately-owned yards. Details of the plans have not been released.

China’s merchant fleet totals 42.6 million gt, if vessels of only 100 gt or more are factored in, according to data from the UK Ministry of Transport.

Insurance to be available

The proposed National Defence Transport Law will also contain provisions that would provide Chinese shipowners with insurance for ships that are called into military service.

China is not the only nation to expect its merchant fleet to serve as a reserve military logistics wing.

Experts say initial descriptions of the programme differ than that of the United States, for example, where commercial ships play a purely logistics role.

And the US-flag fleet that can serve military needs has been diminishing for decades.

American Maritime Congress president James Caponiti, whose organisation represents US-flag shipowners, says it would be a public policy mistake for Washington to stand idly by while China builds up both its naval fleet and a military-ready merchant fleet.

“Do we really want China to be that much more capable?” he asked.