From January to September this year, the order backlog at Chinese shipyards was recorded at 109.3m dwt of vessel capacity, a drop of 18.1% year-on-year, according to MANA cited by figures from China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (Cansi).
The latest nine-month order backlog also shrank from 114.21m dwt seen in the January-August 2016 period, and was down from 123.04m dwt registered as at end-2015.
New orders received at Chinese yards inched up 2% year-on-year to 18.52m dwt in the first nine months, as the severely oversupplied market curbed newbuild orders, Cansi data showed. This compared to a sharp 18.7% year-on-year surge in new orders for the January-August 2016 period.
In completed tonnage, Chinese shipbuilders produced 24.93m dwt of vessel capacity from January to September 2016, a fall of 15.1% compared to the same period of 2015.