Masters Pass Down Crafts, Successors Forge Xinya’s Century Glory — Xinya Holds the 2025 Mentor-Apprentice Commendation Conference & 2026 Talent Development Deployment Meeting

On the afternoon of May 7th, Xinya hosted the 2025 Mentor-Apprentice Commendation Conference and 2026 Talent Development Deployment Meeting on the 7th floor of the Operation & Management Building. CEO Xia Songkang, Assistant CEO Yu Haigang, heads of all departments and workshops, outstanding master representatives and young employees gathered at the event to review past achievements, honor exemplary staff and roll out new talent strategies. CEO Xia Songkang delivered an important keynote address.

The conference opened with a retrospective video of the annual Mentor - Apprentice Program, capturing touching moments of masters and apprentices striving side by side.

Li Yi, Outstanding Master Representative and Supervisor of the Comprehensive Hull Workshop, shared the core philosophy of mentoring: Teach by personal example and grow hand in hand. His speech reflected craftsmen’s relentless pursuit of expertise and sense of responsibility to nurture the younger generation. Su Yutao, Outstanding Apprentice Representative and Trainee Supervisor, shared his heartfelt thoughts: A great master holds the key to unlocking career growth. He pledged to learn not only technical know-how but also the spirit of craftsmanship, maintaining a rigorous, respectful attitude toward his profession.

Yu Yuanchun, Manager of the Human Resources Department, outlined this year’s talent development roadmap. 2026 marks a year of rapid output expansion and critical breakthroughs for the company’s talent strategy. The launch of the 290 Talent Program underscores our commitment to strengthening the enterprise through talent cultivation. Anchored in core corporate strategies, Xinya will further refine two career ladders: Vessel Superintendent and Technical Artisan, deepen the Mentor-Apprentice scheme, and launch a dedicated steward service for talent to accurately address pain points among frontline staff. This year, a cohort of trainee vessel superintendents will be promoted, following a structured development pathway: Foundational Group Training, Merit-Based Post Competition, On-the-Job Practical Training, and Promotion via Performance Assessment.

Senior management and department & workshop leaders including Yu Haigang (Assistant CEO), Zheng Kaiyin (Engineering Management Department Manager), Le Kesi (HSE Manager), Wang Yuanbo (Quality & Technology Control Department Manager), Chen Keke (Vice Manager of Engineering Management Department), Li Yidong (Vice Manager of Engineering Management Department & Director of Comprehensive Hull Workshop), Fu Wei (Assistant Manager of Engineering Management Department & Director of Electrical & Machinery Workshop), together with winners of the Talent Scout Award, took the floor to share their experience and insights. They urged masters to impart professional knowledge, resolve doubts, tailor guidance to each apprentice’s aptitude, and actively pass on technical expertise and the craftsmanship spirit. Young apprentices were advised to stay humble with an empty-cup mindset, prioritize integrity before career advancement, and translate hands-on experience into solid core capabilities, eventually growing into all-round talents proficient in site operation, management, safety compliance and communication. Both masters and apprentices should advance alongside each other to deliver a synergy greater than the sum of individual efforts.

CEO Xia Songkang delivered a pivotal speech. Looking back on the company’s 25-year journey, he stressed with profound vision and resolve that talent forms the core engine of corporate growth. Without outstanding people, Xinya could never have achieved today’s success, nor can we build a century-long Xinya in the future. He set the fundamental talent development goal: Attract talents, retain talents, and stabilize talents. And he put forward three mandatory requirements for all masters:

Continuously update professional expertise and keep pace with cutting-edge technologies and construction processes;

Guide apprentices with patience and tolerance, allowing room for mistakes while correcting errors promptly, combining strict standards with caring mentorship;

Pass on technical know-how alongside Xinya’s corporate culture, teaching not only operational skills but also working methodologies and ethics, to help young employees evolve into independent core backbones quickly.

He also laid out three specific expectations for young staff:

Clarify personal positioning, fully integrate into corporate culture, and devote themselves to learning under their masters;

2.Draw up long-term career plans, steadily accumulate technical competence and professional insight to avoid aimless time-wasting;

3.Carry forward the spirit of hard work. The ship repair industry demands perseverance and grit; young talents must temper themselves on frontline sites to accelerate personal growth.

CEO Xia emphasized that Xinya has grown into one of the world’s leading single-site ship repair yards, earning high recognition from major international shipowners and industry institutions. He encouraged every young employee to set five-year career milestones, align personal growth with corporate development, and take steady strides forward to jointly build a century-old Xinya. A century-long Xinya is far more than a slogan — it is a long-term goal to be realized through generations of Xinya people’s persistent hard work.

In closing, CEO Xia required all departments and workshops to fully implement the Mentor-Apprentice Program, enabling seamless talent transition across senior, middle and young generations. He called on all staff to take this conference as a new starting point, pass on professional skills, shoulder greater responsibilities, and unite efforts to reach new milestones of high-quality development.

At the commendation ceremony, 4 department and workshop heads with outstanding contributions to talent development were awarded the Talent Scout Award, and 20 exemplary masters received the Gardener Award. CEO Xia Songkang personally presented the trophies and took group photos with all awardees.

As the shipbuilding and ship repair industry advances toward high-end transformation, the company leverages the Mentor-Apprentice Program as a golden key to inherit traditional craftsmanship and fuel innovation for the future. The momentum generated through intergenerational knowledge transfer will undoubtedly become the core driving force propelling Xinya forward on its journey to build a century-long enterprise.