Shipbuilding orders flowing back to Chinese yards

In the first two months of 2014, Chinese shipbuilders received new vessel orders totalling 18.08m dwt in capacity, a jump of 259% compared to the corresponding period of 2012, according to data from China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (Cansi).

From January to February this year, Chinese yards completed new vessel tonnage amounting to 4.14m dwt, a decrease of 27.2% year-on-year. This leaves the yards with an existing orderbook of 144.93m dwt in tonnage terms, up 36.4% compared to the same period of the previous year, Cansi figures showed.

The completed vessel tonnage bound for export was 3.65m dwt, a decline of 25.8% from a year earlier while new vessel orders due for export were recorded at 15.587m dwt in capacity, representing a surge of 307% over the corresponding period.

Most of the orders, meanwhile, are concentrated in a handful of China’s 1,600 yards. The country’s 54 biggest yards received new orders of 17.89m dwt in capacity in January and February, soaring 232% from a year ago while existing orderbook stood at 139.9m dwt, up 42.4% year-on-year.

Cansi also recorded that the value of vessels delivered by 87 strongest Chinese yards in January and February this year was put at RMB50.09bn ($8.07bn), an increase of 9.2% compared to the same period of 2012.

From the RMB50.09bn figure, shipbuilding accounted for RMB24.2bn, shipbuilding equipment took up RMB4.23bn and ship repair registered RMB1.68bn, all of which saw improvements of 7.6%, 7.7% and 6.1%, respectively, over last year.

The 87 yards generated revenue of RMB30.8bn in the two-month period, up 10.8% year-on-year and profit came up to RMB480m, up 123.3%.