China Shipbuilders See 11% Fall in New Orders
Chinese yards have recorded 15.85m dwt in new order tonnage for the January to August 2017 period, representing a 11.3% year-on-year drop as shipowners’ appetite for newbuildings remained lacklustre amid the oversupply of ships.
According to MANA, the declining figure on new orders has resulted in a deflated order backlog at China’s shipyards, which stood at 81.11m dwt as at 31 August 2017, a decrease of 29% on a year-on-year comparison and down 18.6% compared to end-2016, according to data from the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (Cansi).
In completed newbuild tonnage, Chinese shipyards built a total of 31.32m dwt between January to August, an increase of 41.4% compared to the same period of 2016.
Cansi also monitors 80 main shipyards showing that their combined completed newbuild ships were valued at RMB259bn ($40.3bn) in the first eight months, a decrease of 4.9% year-on-year.
The 80 main shipyards generated a total revenue of RMB180bn from January to August 2017, a decline of 6% compared to the previous corresponding period while total profit plunged by 20.6% to RMB2.2bn.