Sanya Yazhou Bay Science City: JD.com Founder's $3B Yacht Project (2026)

TL;DR — On August 13, 2026, Sanya’s planning bureau published a land-use rezoning proposal for 217.7 mu (~36 acres) inside Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City, explicitly stating the change is “to secure the landing of the Sanya Sea Expandary Yacht Club industrial project.” Sea Expandary is the private yacht venture of Liu Qiangdong (Richard Liu), founder of JD.com, which has committed roughly $3 billion (RMB 20+ billion) across China since February 2026. The rezoning is still in public consultation (until August 21) and not yet approved. For foreign marine, yachting and ocean-tech businesses, the project signals where China’s marine economy incentives now concentrate: zero-tariff yacht imports, a 15% corporate income tax rate, relaxed used-yacht import rules, and a full supply chain that does not yet have enough international suppliers.

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What just happened in Yazhou Bay

On August 13, 2026, the Sanya Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning published a draft rezoning proposal covering three land parcels in the central district of Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City:

Parcel	Size	Current zoning	Proposed zoning
YK02-05-03	~112.7 mu	Culture/sports mixed	Industrial + commercial mixed
YK02-06-04	~56.3 mu	Culture/sports mixed	Industrial + commercial mixed
YK02-06-05	~2 mu	Bus terminal	Utilities + public transport
+ surrounding roads	~46.7 mu	—	—
Total	~217.7 mu (~14.5 ha)

The bureau’s notice states plainly that the change is being made “to secure the landing of the Sanya Sea Expandary Yacht Club industrial project” (为保障三亚探海游艇会产业项目落地). The planned complex is described as a full value-chain facility: corporate headquarters, a yacht club, maintenance and manufacturing capacity, 300 berths, R&D offices and commercial services.

Important caveat (and we will repeat it): this is a rezoning consultation, open August 13–21, 2026. The land has not been auctioned, and construction has not started. What is confirmed is the government’s intent and the project’s direction — which is exactly why it matters for market watchers now, before the window gets crowded.

Who is Sea Expandary — and why the speed matters

Sea Expandary (探海游艇) was founded in February 2026 by Liu Qiangdong as a personal investment, legally separate from JD.com. In six months it has moved faster than almost any marine-industry entrant in Chinese history:

• Feb 2026 — Founded with RMB 5 billion first-phase capital; China HQ in Shenzhen, smart manufacturing base in Zhuhai
• Mar 2026 — Signed a RMB 15 billion yacht manufacturing and operations project with the Dalian municipal government
• Apr 15, 2026 — Announced its Sanya landing (sailboat manufacturing base + yacht service center) at the Hainan Consumer Expo’s Sanya yacht pavilion
• May 2026 — Acquired Camper & Nicholsons, the 240-year-old British yacht services house, for ~RMB 387 million
• Jun 2026 — Set up a joint yacht-service industry college with Hainan Tropical Ocean University in Sanya
• Jul 2026 — Registered a Qingdao branch (leasing focus)
• Aug 17, 2026 — Completed acquisition of an 80% stake in OceanWalker, a Zhangzhou-based builder of mid-to-large luxury catamarans with an export dealer network across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia — reportedly holding five 72-meter catamaran orders at ~€60 million per hull

The stated ambition: build the world’s largest green, intelligent, full-chain yacht group — and push a new-energy mass-market yacht toward a price point near RMB 100,000 (~$14,000), “making yachts as accessible as cars.”

Whether or not that price point is realistic, the strategic read is straightforward: China’s marine leisure market is being industrialized top-down, and Sanya’s Yazhou Bay is one of the two or three places where the physical infrastructure is being built. For context, China had only ~9,850 registered yachts at the end of 2025 (versus ~13 million in the U.S.), and Chinese builders held under 4% of global yacht manufacturing output in 2024. Industry studies commonly cite an economic multiplier of 6.5–10x for yacht-sector investment. The gap is the opportunity.

Why Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City

If you have never heard of Yazhou Bay, you are not alone — English-language coverage of the zone is close to nonexistent, which is precisely why we are writing this. Here is the short version:

Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City (三亚崖州湾科技城) is a provincial-level development zone on Sanya’s western coast, master-planned around two national missions: deep-sea science and technology (it hosts China’s deep-sea research fleet support base and the national deep-sea equipment cluster) and seed-industry R&D (the “Nanfan” breeding base used by research teams nationwide). Over the past several years the zone has accumulated:

• Research institutes from 19 “double first-class” Chinese universities
• 63 provincial-and-above science and innovation platforms
• A one-stop international talent service counter handling 194 foreign-related services, plus Hainan’s first IDP IELTS computer-based test center
• A growing residential and commercial build-out — in August 2026 alone, state-backed developer Jinmao paid RMB 1.61 billion for a 143-mu residential parcel in the zone, its fifth land acquisition there

The zone’s positioning until now has been research-heavy and industry-light on the consumer side. The Sea Expandary rezoning — converting culture/sports land into industrial + commercial mixed use for a yacht headquarters-and-manufacturing complex — is the strongest signal yet that Yazhou Bay wants manufacturing and headquarters economy, not just labs.

The policy stack: what a marine business actually saves in Hainan

This is where it gets concrete. Every figure below traces to a published regulation; links at the end.

1. Zero-tariff yacht and vessel imports

Before island-wide customs closure on December 18, 2025, zero-tariff imports of operational vessels and yachts ran under a positive-list regime established by Caiguanshui [2020] No. 54. That document—together with the other pre-closure zero-tariff list documents—was repealed when the post-closure goods-tax framework took effect on December 18, 2025 under Caiguanshui [2025] No. 12. First-line imports are now managed through the Hainan FTP Imported Taxable-Goods Catalogue under Caiguanshui [2025] No. 13: goods outside the catalogue imported by eligible beneficiaries—Hainan-registered enterprises with independent legal-person status—are exempt from import duty, import VAT and consumption tax; goods in the catalogue remain taxable.

• Sailboats (HS 89039100), motorboats (89039200) and other pleasure or sports craft (89039900) now fall to be tested against the taxable-goods catalogue rather than a pre-closure positive list
• Industry estimates put potential landed-cost savings at roughly 38% for yachts and 35% for sailboats; these are not official rates, and actual savings depend on catalogue classification, dutiable value and entity eligibility
• For operational vessels and yachts, eligible activities remain transport and tourism; vessels must be registered or flagged in Hainan, operate within Hainan waters and remain under an 8-year customs supervision period, with tax repayment triggered by transfer or change of use

2. Used yachts: the 5-year age rule

The Hainan FTP Yacht Industry Promotion Regulation relaxed the import age cap for used yachts from 1 year to 5 years — a national first. Implementation rules (a four-department notice issued in December 2022) created the inspection and licensing pathway; the first sub-5-year used powerboat cleared in November 2023. For brokers and dealers, this opens a legal imported-pre-owned market that does not exist elsewhere in mainland China.

3. 15% corporate income tax

Enterprises in Hainan’s encouraged-industries catalog (which covers marine equipment, yacht manufacturing, and tourism services) that are registered and substantively operating in the FTP pay a reduced 15% corporate income tax versus the national 25% rate. Originally under Caishui [2020] No. 31, the policy has been extended to December 31, 2027 by Caishui [2025] No. 3 — our China corporate income tax guide walks through the full regime. Two sweeteners stack on top:

• Income from new outbound direct investment by Hainan companies can be exempt from CIT (where the investee jurisdiction’s statutory rate is ≥5%)
• Manufacturers in encouraged industries get a further break: goods with ≥30% value-added processing in Hainan enter the mainland duty-free across the “second line”

4. Visiting yachts: no entry bond

Self-sailed foreign yachts entering the Hainan FTP pilot zone are exempt from posting customs bonds — removing a historic cash-flow barrier for visiting superyachts and charter operators.

5. People: 15% personal income tax ceiling

High-end and urgently-needed talent working in Hainan pay an effective personal income tax capped at 15% on Hainan-sourced income (a 183-day residence rule applies; from 2025, a 3%/10%/15% three-tier regime applies to qualifying industry personnel).

What this means for foreign marine and ocean-tech businesses

Read the Sea Expandary build-out as a demand map. A full-chain yacht complex needs — and China currently under-supplies — exactly the categories where foreign SMEs are strongest:

• Components and systems: propulsion, electric drivetrains, navigation electronics, marine HVAC, safety gear
• Maintenance, repair and refit: Sanya has 1,400+ registered yachts and ~225,600 annual sorties, but thin technical capacity — a gap the local press openly acknowledges
• Brokerage, charter management and crew services: the Camper & Nicholsons acquisition signals demand for international operating standards and training
• Marine insurance, survey and certification
• Ocean-tech R&D services adjacent to the deep-sea cluster (sensors, ROV/AUV support, materials testing)

The practical play for a foreign company is not to compete with a $3B flagship — it is to sell into it and its ecosystem, using the tax and import stack above. And the window matters: industrial land, berths and service licenses in the zone are being allocated now, alongside the zone’s residential expansion.

How a foreign company sets up in Yazhou Bay

The entity route is a standard Hainan WFOE or joint venture — see our WFOE vs joint venture comparison and Hainan alternative guide — with zone-level registration handled through the science city’s enterprise service center:

1. Name pre-approval + business scope — marine/yacht scopes are conventional (manufacturing, maintenance, charter, brokerage, R&D); some activities carry entry conditions — e.g., a yacht leasing operator needs ≥5 owned yachts including ≥2 above 40 feet
2. Registration — Hainan’s e-registration system; subscribed-capital regime, no minimum for most scopes
3. Encouraged-industry confirmation — required to unlock the 15% CIT rate (substantive-operation test: real office, staff, accounts in Hainan); the incentives-by-industry map shows where marine and modern services sit
4. Sector licensing — maritime registrations via Hainan Maritime Safety Administration; charter/leasing filings via provincial transport and culture-tourism departments
5. Customs enrollment — to test zero-tariff import eligibility under the post-closure imported taxable-goods catalogue and beneficiary rules

Typical timeline runs 3–6 weeks for the entity itself; sector licenses add time depending on scope. Budget numbers are in our registration cost breakdown.

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August 2026 Update

Since this article was published, Sea Expandary has moved from announcements to executed deals. On August 17, 2026, it completed the acquisition of an 80% stake in OceanWalker, the Zhangzhou-based builder of S60 power catamarans and X53/X62 flybridge yachts whose dealer network spans North America, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Separately, its subsidiary Wave Expandary has agreed to buy 80% of Camper & Nicholsons — the British yacht services house founded in 1782 — for €40 million, with closing expected by September 30, 2026. A factory, an export channel and the oldest services brand in yachting change what the Yazhou Bay project can become. We break down what both deals mean for Sanya, the zone and foreign marine suppliers in our follow-up: Richard Liu’s Sea Expandary Acquires OceanWalker — What It Means for Sanya and Yazhou Bay.

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Map Your Marine Business Entry in 30 Minutes

Whether a yacht-industry supplier, a refit crew, a charter operator or an ocean-tech startup — the questions are the same: which scopes fit the encouraged catalog, which licenses your activity triggers, and whether the import stack applies to your equipment. That’s exactly what a consultation maps, ending with a fixed written quote. Our packages are published at our pricing page before we ever get on a call — formation from USD 2,500, first-year setup with bookkeeping from USD 4,800, and fuller landing support from USD 9,800.

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FAQ

Is Sanya Yazhou Bay Science City open to foreign companies? Yes. It is a provincial-level zone within the Hainan Free Trade Port; foreign-invested enterprises register under the national negative-list regime, and marine, yacht and manufacturing scopes are in the encouraged category, not restricted.

Can a foreign-owned company import yachts into Hainan duty-free? Foreign ownership is neither a bar nor a sufficient condition. The company must be Hainan-registered with independent legal-person status, operate in transport or tourism, and use the vessels for Hainan operations. The pre-closure positive-list rule under Caiguanshui [2020] No. 54 was repealed on December 18, 2025; treatment now follows the post-closure taxable-goods-catalogue regime under Caiguanshui [2025] No. 12 and No. 13. Goods outside the catalogue imported by eligible entities are exempt from import duty, import VAT and consumption tax, subject to Hainan registration or flag, operation within Hainan waters and the 8-year customs supervision period.

Is the yacht project a JD.com project? No. Sea Expandary is Liu Qiangdong’s personal venture, legally and financially separate from JD.com. Reporting it as a “JD.com project” is inaccurate.

Has the Yazhou Bay land been sold to the project? Not as of August 19, 2026. What exists is a rezoning consultation (August 13–21) stating the change is intended to secure the project’s landing. Land auction and construction timelines have not been announced.

What is the corporate tax rate for a yacht company in Hainan? 15% (versus 25% nationally) for encouraged-industry enterprises with substantive Hainan operations, guaranteed by regulation through December 31, 2027.

How long does it take to register a marine company in Sanya? The entity itself: typically 3–6 weeks. Sector-specific licenses (charter operations, maritime registrations) add time depending on scope and fleet plans.

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Official Sources

The framework described in this article is based on published regulations and official announcements:

• Caiguanshui [2020] No. 54 — pre-closure Hainan FTP zero-tariff policy for operational vehicles, vessels, aircraft and yachts (repealed December 18, 2025; historical reference)
• Caiguanshui [2025] No. 12 — Post-closure “first line / second line” tax policy for goods entering, leaving and circulating within the Hainan FTP
• Caiguanshui [2025] No. 13 — Hainan FTP Imported Taxable-Goods Catalogue
• Post-closure GACC customs implementation rules — including the 8-year customs supervision period for zero-tariff vessels and yachts
• Caishui [2020] No. 31 / Caishui [2025] No. 3 — the 15% corporate income tax for encouraged industries, extended through December 31, 2027
• Hainan FTP Yacht Industry Promotion Regulation — the 5-year used-yacht import age rule; provincial implementing notice (December 2022)
• Sanya Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning — rezoning consultation notice (August 13, 2026)
• Hainan Provincial Department of Transport — policy interpretation on imported yacht management measures

Project status descriptions in this article distinguish confirmed announcements (the expo landing announcement, the rezoning notice, the industry college, completed acquisitions) from pending items (land approval, construction timeline). This article reflects the situation as of August 2026 and does not constitute legal, tax or investment advice; verify current implementation rules before acting.

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Final Thoughts

Every few years, a single project tells you where a local economy wants to go. Yazhou Bay spent its first phase accumulating laboratories and universities; the Sea Expandary rezoning is the zone saying out loud that it now wants hulls, berths and headquarters to go with them. For foreign marine businesses, the useful question is not whether Liu Qiangdong’s $3B bet succeeds — it is whether your equipment, services or expertise belong inside the supply chain that bet is about to assemble, under a tax and import stack that exists nowhere else in China.

Mapping a marine or ocean-tech entry into Hainan? Book a free consultation — we’ll scope your licenses, incentives and entity route, and quote it in writing in 30 minutes.

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