Japan takes a breather

New export orders at Japan’s major shipbuilders slowed down significantly in January with contracts for only 31 ships of 1.3mgt.

Despite fewer orders in january, bulkers still dominated

The Japan Ship Exporters’ Association (JSEA) said 22 bulkers were ordered in January – two capesize, six post-panamax, four panamax, six handymax and four handysize units.

The remaining orders comprised four pure car carriers, two LPG carriers, a pair of chemical carriers and a single chip carrier.

Some 92% of the orders were contracted in yen with the remainder in foreign currencies, reflecting the increasing strengthen of the yen against the US dollar.

January’s newbuilding haul has succeeding in pushing Japan’s order backlog to another record high of 1,309 ships of 64.8mgt.

In the fiscal year to date JSEA yards have received export orders for 479 ships of 22.7mgt, 389 of which have been bulkers.

Deliveries from Japanese yards during January numbered 36 ships of 1.5mgt, with bulkers accounting for 24 ships of some 913,150-gt.

JSEA members include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Imabari Shipbuilding, IHI Marine United, Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding, Universal Shipbuilding, Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corp and Sasebo Heavy Industries.

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