China retained its crown as the world's biggest shipbuilding nation in 2015, but with a 26% decline on year in newbuilding orders, chiefly due to "the abysmal state of the dry bulk market," Italian shipbroker Banchero Costa (Bancosta) said Tuesday.
Looking at mainstream deep sea vessels, encompassing bulk carriers of over 20,000 dwt, crude and product tankers of over 30,000 dwt and container ships over 500 TEU, Chinese shipyards received orders for 389 new units in 2015, down 26% from 2014 and a 52% drop from 2013, Bancosta said in a report.
This decline in newbuilding orders was especially felt in the dry bulk sector, the "bread and butter" of Chinese shipbuilding, with China's yards receiving orders for just 102 dry bulk vessels, down 72.9% from 377 in 2014 and down 83.5% from 620 in 2013, according to Bancosta data.
In comparison, Japanese shipyards received orders for 182 new dry bulk vessels, 78.4% more than China, although this also marked a year-on-year decline, of 31.3%, from 265 ships ordered in 2014, Bancosta said.
However, China saw a year-on-year increase in tanker orders, with 68 new crude carriers ordered in 2015, up from 27 in 2014 and 37 in 2013.
Also, Chinese yards took orders for 60 new products tankers, up from 24 in 2014 and 50 in 2015.
According to shipping sources, the disparity between dry and wet newbuilding orders in Chinese shipyards in 2015 does not come as a surprise. This is because 2015 saw a sharp decline in dry bulk freight rates, caused by a persistent oversupply of vessels and declining liquidity on both the Atlantic and Pacific dry bulk markets.
At the same time, freight rates on the dirty tanker market saw their highest levels since 2008, mainly due to the ongoing global crude oil glut, which has encouraged newbuilding orders.
