The declining figure on new orders has resulted in a deflated order backlog at China’s shipyards, which stood at 81.11m dwt as at 31 August 2017, a decrease of 29\% on a year-on-year comparison and down 18.6\% compared to end-2016, according to data from the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (Cansi).
In completed newbuild tonnage, Chinese shipyards built a total of 31.32m dwt between January to August, an increase of 41.4\% compared to the same period of 2016.
Cansi figures further zoomed in to show that China’s 53 leading shipyards sat on a combined new order of 14.75m dwt, taking up 93.1\% of the country’s newbuilding market share.
The 53 leading yards completed new vessel tonnage of 27.34m dwt, an increase of 33.2\% year-on-year, and sat on an order backlog of 77.61m dwt, down 29.4\%.
Cansi also monitors 80 main shipyards showing that their combined completed newbuild ships were valued at RMB259bn ($40.3bn) in the first eight months, a decrease of 4.9\% year-on-year.
Among the total value, shipbuilding accounted for RMB110bn, equipment took up RMB16.9bn and repairs amounted to RMB7.7bn.
The 80 main shipyards generated a total revenue of RMB180bn from January to August 2017, a decline of 6\% compared to the previous corresponding period while total profit plunged by 20.6\% to RMB2.2bn.
