Chinese shipyards’ new orders slumped 77.4% year on year (y/y) to 7.86 million dwt in the first five months of 2015, China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI) said.
The orderbook of Chinese shipbuilders fell 8.2% y/y to 138.18 million dwt at the end of May, down 7.5% from the level at the end of 2014.
The plunge in new orders came after Chinese shipbuilders ended 2014 with a 14.2% y/y fall in awarded orders, as buyers cut back on spending on new ships since late 2014.
The completed tonnage at the Chinese yards grew 18.9% y/y to 15.48 million dwt during the same period.
For exports, the new orders also fell 79.8% y/y to 6.65 million dwt, accounting for 84.6% of overall new orders placed at Chinese shipyards.
A total of 88 companies in the Chinese shipbuilding and relevant industries surveyed by CANSI posted y/y rise in operating revenues of 4.4% to CNY102.0 billion (USD16.4 billion), with gross profits up 17% to CNY2.06 billion.
The industrial output values of these companies increased 5.5% y/y to CNY163 billion, with those for shipbuilders and marine equipment makers up 9.2% and 9.6%, respectively. However, the industrial output values for ship repairers were down 8.3% y/y.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.