CCS on Rapid Developments after China's opening up policy

    After the Third Plenary Session of the Thirteenth Central Committee of the Party, China adopted its policy of opening to outside world and invigorating the domestic economy by building the modernized socialist country, which offered a hard-won opportunity and driving force for the development of CCS. It was this historic opportunity that made it possible for CCS to use less than 50 years to achieve the success that western class societies took more than 100 years to make. The reform and opening up made Chinese ocean transport break into the international shipping market and start to develop on its own. Chinese shipbuilding also gained development momentum from fierce international competition. Foreign ship owners began to build their ships in China. To meet the need of the situations, ZC began to develop its own system. In 1978, the ship survey departments subordinate to the port and navigation units under the MOC were in the process of becoming independent and by 1981 ZC had completed the preparation for conducting direct management of the ship survey business.
    Under the driving of the reform and opening up, from 1982-1985, ZC quickly formed its own organizational system by establishing branches in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Dalian, Tianjin, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Zhanjiang, Wuhan, Nanjing, Wuhu, Yichang, Chongqing and Shenzhen. It also set up a vertical survey management mechanism that covered all major ports across the country with its command center located in Beijing. It established its rules and research institutes for sea-going ships and inland waterway ships, published its Register of Ships, began to establish its overseas offices and prepared to join the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS). Meanwhile, in line with the international conventions, ZC revised and updated survey rules and certificates for sea-going ships and completed the Rules and Regulations for the Classification and Construction of Sea-going Steel Ships in addition to updating relevant ship survey certificates, in full compliance with international standards. ZC established training centers in Shanghai and Wuhan for sea-going ship surveyors and inland waterway ships respectively and established its training program aimed at long term talent cultivation. During this period, ZC also began to introduce computer techniques from abroad, strengthened the development of its engineering and ship management software and fully started its international interaction and cooperation. A ship survey service system developed and perfected by ZC was taking shape. .
    Accompanying the development of shipping, shipbuilding and offshore exploration in China, through cooperation with western classification societies, ZC developed construction survey for new and large-size ships, promoted inspection of marine products and water-borne containers and expanded offshore installation surveys. A good number of new, diverse ships entered the CCS fleet, which broke the record of 10,000,000 in gross tonnage in 1986. Marine product surveys began to develop abroad and move onto the international market.