China’s Shipbuilding Industry Faces Huge Challenges

According to MorningWhistle and based on the report released by the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI) on January 25, due to fewer orders held, the lower price of completed ships, and higher production costs, China’s shipbuilding industry is expected to continue to perform poorly this year.

Since 2012, under the environment of slowdown in the growth of global economy and trade, the shipping market is continuously in depression, and the development of China’s shipbuilding industry faces huge challenges. From January to September in 2012, the completion volume of China’s shipbuilding was 41.58 million deadweight tons, with a decline of 18.5% YOY. The volume of new ship orders was 15.41 million deadweight tons, with a decline of 46.9% YOY. By the end of September 2012, the volume of reserve ship orders of China’s shipbuilding enterprises was 120.9 million deadweight tons, with a decrease of 28.4% YOY, falling by 19.4% over the end of 2011. From January to September in 2012, the completed ship export were 34.34 million deadweight tons, with a decrease of 20.2% YOY; the order volume of ship export was 12 million deadweight tons, with a decrease of 44.5% YOY; at the end of September 2012, the reserve orders of export ships of China’s shipbuilding enterprises were 101.19 million deadweight tons, with a decrease of 27% YOY. The export ships separately accounted for 82.6%, 77.9% and 83.7% of completion volume, new order volume and reserve order volume of China’s shipbuilding.

Industry experts say the shipbuilding industry would continue to be weak in 2013, and it’s unlikely the market will pick up in the short term.

Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, January 28, 2013