Following the completion of a sea trial for its first 10,000 teu containership recently, the Chinese shipyard is now pitching for orders for boxships of 13,000-18,000 teu capacity, according to Ren Yuanlin, executive chairman of Yangzijiang.
“I can say with certainty that the sizes of containerships will only get bigger and bigger. The cost of operating a 10,000-teu boxship can be half the amount for operating a 5,000-teu boxship, assuming they are fully-loaded and plying long distant voyages,” Ren claimed.
He reasoned that bigger vessels are now competitively priced by shipyards, and they have tonne-mile advantage for greater economies of scale and are more fuel efficient.
“There are less than 10 shipyards around the world that are able to build containerships of more than 10,000 teu, and we have now positioned ourselves to be among those that have the capability,” Ren said.
Apart from building mega-sized boxships, Jiangsu-based Yangzijiang will also continue to take in orders for dry bulk carriers of various sizes as a way to adequately utilise its yard capacity and keep up the work volume for its workers, according to Ren.
As at 27 February 2014, Yangzijiang sat on an orderbook worth $4.6bn comprising of 111 vessels to keep the yards highly utilised until 2016. Among the 111 vessels on order, 30 are containerships and 81 are bulk carriers. The yard also has 11 shipbuilding options worth $720m.
The Singapore-listed shipbuilder on Thursday announced a 2013 net profit of RMB3.1bn ($506.2m), down 13.4% year-on-year due largely to increased taxation expenses.
With severe overcapacity at shipyards and shipowners struggling to stay profitable, Ren predicted that 2014 will continue to be a tough year for shipbuilders but recovery should start taking hold from 2015.
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