Orders collapse

Newbuilding export orders in Japan have fallen by nearly 47% in fiscal 2008 compared to a year earlier official figures show.

Orders fell by nearly 50% in FY2008

This is the first time since fiscal 2001 that the annual contracted tonnage dropped below the 15mgt mark, the JSEA said.

Orders in the first half of the year hovered at the higher levels at 277 ships of 12mgt, but the market virtually collapsed in the second half.

Between October 2007 and March 2009 only 53 ships of 2.5mgt were ordered due to the frozen state of the newbuilding market.

In the fiscal year 2007 JSEA yards reported newbuilding orders for 576 ships of 27.4mgt on the back of record-high rates.

Handymax bulker orders were the biggest losers with only 43 ships ordered in FY2008 from 120 units the year before.

Capesize bulker ordering also contracted down from 55 units in 2007 to 24 last year, while ore carrier orders went from 33 to three.

The FY2008 order intake comprised 276 bulkers of just over 11mgt, 39 tankers of 2.7mgt and 15 general cargo vessels of 712,580-gt.

The order intake for March was 13 ships of 547,950-gt made up of five handymaxes, four aframaxes and single orders for handysize, PCC, product and chemical carrier vessels.

During FY2008 JSEA yards delivered 339 ships of 15.7mgrt – 216 bulkers of 9.4mgt, 94 tankers of 5.2mgt and 28 general cargo vessels of over 1mgt.

At the end of March 2009 the combined order backlog at JSEA member yards was 1,312 ships of 63.7mgt. A year earlier it was 1,335 ships of 65.6mgt.

Members of the JSEA 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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