Chinese Shipbuilders Report Strong Increase in Q1 Order Intake

In the first quarter of the year, the Chinese shipbuilding industry reported a strong increase in order intake. Namely, new orders amounted to 9.57 million deadweight tonnage, which is a 71.1 percent increase when compared to last year, the China Daily informs.

What is more, shipbuilding orders recorded a 44 percent increase when compared to the last year’s 20.58 million DWT. Nevertheless, analysts anticipate that the vessel prices will remain low due to newly added capacity, estimating that the industry can’t revive until 2020.

This is supported by the data that in Q1 the completed orders decreased 15.6 percent year-on-year to 9.45 million DWT.

The newbuilding cost of a VLCC has declined to $85.0m in China, at which a shipyard is likely to lose money, Peroto Shipping’s analyst Nicolai Hanstee is cited by Asiasis as saying.

[mappress]
Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, April 24, 2013; Image: jhz