From January to March, new orders at Chinese shipyards plunged by 76.8% year-on-year to 5.99m dwt, putting the existing orderbook at 144.93m dwt at the end of March, down 2.5% year-on-year.
Completed tonnage, however, continued to increase by 27.5% to 9.47m dwt, with 8.54m dwt due for exports, Cansi figures showed.
Based on figures from the 54 leading yards monitored by Cansi, they received new orders of 4.87m dwt in the first quarter, a drop of 80% compared to the same period of last year.
The 54 leading yards sat on a combined existing order backlog of 142.88m dwt, largely stable compared to year-ago figures. Completed vessel tonnage came up to 7.88m dwt, up 23.3%.
On a wider scale, Cansi also monitors 88 main yards, which showed that they completed a combined vessel tonnage valued at RMB93.37bn ($15.06bn) in the first three months, representing an increase of 8.4% year-on-year.
The 88 main yards also drew in a total revenue of RMB64.67bn in the first quarter, an increase of 8.9% compared to the previous corresponding period. Net profit was recorded at RMB170m, down 87.8%.
Cansi also revealed that in the between January and February this year, 1,486 Chinese shipyards generated a total revenue of RMB81.46bn, up 5.5% from year-ago figures. The profit was registered at RMB2.27bn, down 14.2%.
China’s shipbuilding industry is currently experiencing a recession and undergoing a consolidation phase, where there are now a little more than 100 shipyards with active day-to-day operations, shrinking from approximately 300 during the second half of last year.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited. Add Seatrade Maritime News to your Google News feed.
