Newbuilding orders keep on plunging in March

The third month of the year proved no exception to the previous ones, since from November onwards, newbuilding orders on a worldwide basis remain under the 1 million-dwt monthly mark.

As shipowners are scaling back investments, shipyards are bound to suffer in earnings. Chinese yards in particular appear to be in dire straits, as Worldyards shipbuilding database indicates that thus far 55.65% of the total 7,862 million cgt in cancellations have occurred in China. While the current global orderbook stands at just shy of 158m cgt, owners are practically absent from newbuilding orders. The world new ship contracts kept low at 693,700 dwt in March the fifth month with turnover down 1 million dwt. CANSI’s newly published survey this week showed China's ship industry continued the downturn from end 2008 to January and February grabbing very few new orders. It's expected the new orders will keep rare in H1 then rally in H2.Shipbuilders like Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co Ltd and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Co Ltd revealed that they started to feel hard to receive new orders, though they had relatively plentiful holdings which could spread to 2011 and 2012. Meanwhile, order cancellation continued. During January to February there was an accumulative cancellation of 13 ships equal to 664,000 dwt.

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