Chinese shipbuilding orderbook continues to deflate as growth slows for new deals

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 and down 11.2% compared to end-2015, according to 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.

Fifty-one leading Chinese yards, monitored by Cansi, controlled more than 90% of the market share with 16.94m dwt of new orders received in the first nine months, down 18.3% compared to the year-ago period.

The 51 leading yards completed 23.38m dwt of new vessel tonnage in the nine-month period, down 13.5% year-on-year, and sat on a combined orderbook of 107.08m dwt as at end-September 2016.

A wider cluster of 94 main yards, also monitored by Cansi, booked a combined completed shipbuilding value of RMB121bn ($17.95bn) in the first nine months, a decrease of 3.2% from the year-ago level.

Among the total value, shipbuilding accounted for RMB84bn, repairs accounted for RMB5.3bn and equipment took up RMB4.8bn.

The 94 main shipyards also booked a combined revenue of RMB228bn in the first nine months, a decline of 4%, and a profit of RMB2.42bn, plummeting 26.7%.