Staff members harvest fish at the "Genghai No 1" marine ranch complex in Yantai, Shandong province on Oct 30. [Photo/VCG]

The coastal city of Yantai has seen rapid growth in its marine industries in the past five years, according to a report at a news conference focusing on the city's marine economy during the 13th Five Year Plan period (2016-20).

According to Li Chuanqiang, director of the Yantai municipal marine development and fishery bureau, as of the end of 2019, the gross product generated by the city's marine economy was 180.8 billion yuan ($27.58 billion), ranking second in Shandong province.

The city's output of marine engineering equipment and manufacturing, coastal tourism, and marine biomedicine ranks first among cities in the province.

In addition, a series of modern marine ranch complexes was recently put into operation in the city.

The city is currently home to 30 marine ranches at the provincial level or above and 14 at the national level. The city's various marine ranches cover a total area of 1.1 million mu (73,333.33 hectares), and the output value of the industrial chain has exceeded 50 billion yuan.

The city's marine equipment manufacturing industry is also strong. Eighty percent of China's semi-submersible rigs are made in Yantai, and CIMC Raffles and Jerry Group in Yantai are some of the strongest players in this field.

Meanwhile, the Yantai marine engineering equipment base has become one of the world's four major deep water semi-submersible platform construction bases and one of the country's five major marine engineering equipment construction bases.

Marine tourism in the city has also seen robust development, generating more than 100 billion yuan in revenue, while the cargo throughput of Yantai Port has reached 386 million tons, ranking 8th among China's coastal ports.