Posted on 30 Jan 2023
The blizzard of vessel orders concluded in December was still not sufficient to allow Japanese shipbuilders to achieve an on-year increase in new business for calendar year of 2022, statistics released on January 19 by Japan Ship Exporters' Association (JSEA) showed. Nevertheless, if the sizzling performance of the year before is ignored, last year's total was still the highest in eight years, Mysteel Global noted.
During 2022, JSEA member yards won orders totalling 11.6 million gross tons (GT) in 282 vessels, lower by 23.6% from the 2021 result of 15.2 million GT in 318 ships, the data showed. However, the next highest total after that is the recent record high set in 2015 of over 22.2 million GT, the statistics showed, making last year's total a solid result.
The full-year total for 2022 would have been far leaner had it not been for a phenomenal jump in orders the yards secured in December that totalled 1.5 million GT in 42 vessels, a 2.3-fold increase from the November total. Among the 42 were no fewer than 22 handysize bulk carriers totalling 557,550 GT, the JSEA data showed.
"I don't think the jump in December orders was just because year-end was approaching or because the Yen had weakened – after all, the Yen depreciated in November and October, and we didn't see a large jump in orders those months," a JSEA official remarked.
"It may be because negotiations are taking longer because of the rise in materials prices – such as ship plate – and it happened that many deals were concluded all at once," he suggested.
On the other hand, in December while the Japanese yards were busily concluding new orders, actual vessel deliveries plummeted. On a customs clearance basis last month, Japanese builders delivered only six vessels, equivalent to a total of just 149,062 GT – less than 20% of the November delivery total of 779,790 GT, the JSEA statistics showed.
For Japanese steelmakers supplying ship plate and section steel used in vessel construction, and special steel used in equipment such as winches and engines, the fall in deliveries in December was not all bad, however.
The most recent statistics from Japan Iron & Steel Federation showed that in November, orders for carbon steel items for the shipbuilding and marine equipment sector totalled 222,000 tonnes, up slightly from October, though 2.6% down on November 2021.
"The large number of new orders in December and low deliveries means that shipbuilders' backlog orders have increased significantly to 2.2 or 2.3 years," the JSEA official noted. "The shipbuilders will continue consuming steel actively too," he added.
As of end-December, Japanese yards' total export-order backlog until March 2027 had expanded to 21.73 million GT in 487 vessels, up from 20.4 million GT in 451 vessels at end-November, the data showed.
This is still far smaller than the boom times of 2007-2008 when the yards were nursing orders for over 1,300 vessels, equivalent to more than 60 million GT, but it still means that Japanese steelmakers can count on steady steel orders from shipbuilders for several years to come.
Source:Mysteel Global
