Orders at Japanese shipyards went up in May 2015, compared with a low base in the same month last year.
Figures from the Japan Ship Exporters’ Association (JSEA) showed its member shipyards clinched 17 export orders of 1.47 million gt in May 2015, compared with 14 export orders totalling 454,140 gt in May 2014.
The higher gross tonnage was due to orders for bigger ships.
The orders in May comprised four container ships, three pure car and truck carriers, one very large crude carrier, and nine bulkers, which consisted of two Handysizes, six Handymaxes, and one Panamax.
Japanese shipyards specialise in building dry bulk carriers and orders have been slow due to the weak freight market.
The Baltic Dry Index’s plunge to a historic low in February has been discouraging investment in bulkers, as China’s coal demand slows and Indonesia shows no sign of resuming exports of raw ore. A deluge of bulker newbuilding deliveries in 2015 makes the market outlook bleak.
Related news:Japanese yard orders down 36%
JSEA member shipyards exported 20 ships of 810,000 gt in May, similar to the 19 ships of 801,431 gt delivered in May 2014.
As of 31 May 2015, Japanese shipyards’ outstanding orderbook stood at 630 ships of 28.86 million gt, compared with 655 ships of 27,731,450 gt over the same period in 2014.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
