The country also plans to raise the value of annual shipbuilding exports to more than $80 billion by 2015, the ministry said in a five-year plan for the shipbuilding industry.

The plan provides new details regarding China's push for significant growth in domestic shipbuilding at a time when the industry already faces overcapacity.

A report by the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry showed that total new orders from more than 1,500 shipbuilders in China fell more than 50 percent in 2011.

To achieve these goals, China's shipbuilding industry is focusing on quality over productivity and overcoming deficiencies, including worker training, retention and research and design.

"For many companies, productivity came first and quality a little bit later. But for the major shipyards, quality has remained a major part of their program and we've often seen them take huge strides," says Tom Boardley, marine director of the London-based Lloyd's Register, which provides ship classification services globally.

The company is the world's second-largest classification society and covers more than 18 percent of the global fleet. It employs 372 people in China and has a working presence in 40 of the country's 200 main yards.

The changing focus of the shipbuilding industry has also created more opportunities for overseas companies.

Autodesk, a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software in the US, says that it anticipates more opportunities in China's developing marine economy, "particularly in the shipbuilding industry".

AutoDesk, reached a deal in November with Sanyang Heavy Machinery Co, producer of shipping equipment in Taizhou, a city in the coastal Jiangsu province of East China, to allow the latter to use Autodesk Inventor software in making engineering ships and equipment.

The Autodesk Inventor 3D model is an accurate 3D digital prototype that enables users to validate the form, fit, and function of a design; minimize the need for physical prototypes; and reduce costly engineering changes that are discovered only after the design is sent for manufacturing.

"Autodesk hopes to have more technology exchanges and cooperation with Chinese companies and make more contributions in line with China's plans to be a major maritime power," a company official said on condition of anonymity.