Covid surge stalls China’s 3rd aircraft carrier construction

Beijing, April 17

The massive surge in Covid cases in Shanghai city has hit China’s shipbuilding industry, including the construction of the third aircraft carrier scheduled for launch on April 23.

For over a fortnight, Shanghai — China’s business and industrial hub with over 26 million people — has been literally shut down with strict lockdown as the city experienced rampaging spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The lockdown has slowed China’s shipbuilding plans and may affect the launch of the country’s third aircraft carrier, a Hong Kong-based paper reported on Sunday.

The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) was widely expected to launch the aircraft carrier around its 73rd anniversary on April 23.

But the plan faces delay as the rampant pandemic in Shanghai has delayed the transport of some key components, it quoted a source as saying.

Construction of the Type 003 aircraft carrier has been under way at the Jiangnan Shipyard on Shanghai’s Changxing Island since 2017 and was expected to be ready for launch early this year. —