Posted on 23 Jun 2022
Chinese shipbuilders completed building vessels totalling 2.57 million deadweight tons (DWT) in May, reversing up by 22.4% on month, new data from the China Association of National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI) showed. The association suggested deliveries rose because the adverse impact of the pandemic on the shipbuilding sector has been gradually easing, and the supply chain disruptions have basically been resolved.
Noting the significant on-month increase in completed vessels, "it's a very good momentum," said Li Yanqing, secretary general of CANSI. "Shipbuilders in (East China's) Jiangsu province and Shanghai resumed their production swiftly last month," he added.
Two-thirds of China's shipbuilding capacity is concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta region, where Jiangsu and Shanghai are located, Mysteel Global notes.
"However, major industry indicators have shown declines (on year) due to the high base number in the corresponding period of last year," CANSI observed. "The shipbuilding industry still faces challenges to secure steady and healthy development."
Over January-May, the country's shipyards saw their completed vessels decrease 15.3% on year to 14.28 million DWT, among which 12.32 million DWT were for export, dropping 23.2% on year, according to the CANSI data.
As for new orders, Chinese shipbuilders received a total of 17.69 million DWT in new business during the past five months, slumping 46% on year. Among the total orders, 15.83 million DWT were for export, also down 46% on year.
By the end of May, the order backlog held by China's shipyards totalled 102.2 million DWT, up 20.2% on year, according to the association. Within the total, 90.34 million DWT of the backlog orders are for vessels for export, up 19.2% on year.
"With more than 100 million DWT orders in hand, we are very full for the next two years," Li commented.
During the past five months, China's share of new orders won worldwide was 52.5%, according to the CANSI statistics. Chinese builders also hold 48.2% of all vessel orders in backlog globally and accounted for 44.4% of all vessels completed worldwide.
Source:Mysteel Global
