The long-expected merger of China's two major state shipbuilding groups has moved a step closer with the appointment of Yang Jincheng, a top executive of China Shipbuilding Industry Corp (CSIC), as general manager of the southern group of shipyards.

Yang's move to China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC) follows the removal of his former boss at CSIC, the northern yard group, in a Communist Party purge.