BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- China's accomplished shipbuilding output in the first half of this year stood at 19.66 million deadweight tonnes, up 4.2 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Over the same period, China received 51.8 percent of global new orders and held 42.9 percent of the existing orders, cementing the country's leading role in the sector.

In 2018, China took 43.9 percent of global new orders and held 42.8 percent of the existing ones.

Given a lackluster global economy, however, the shipbuilding industry still faces grim circumstances.

Intelligent ships and intelligent manufacturing are the drivers for the high-quality development of China's shipbuilding industry, said Xin Guobin, vice minister of industry and information technology, at a meeting this year.