World shipbuilding orders fall sharply in first quarter 2020
World shipbuilding orders in January-March 2020 fell 71% against the same time in 2019 as the coronavirus crisis caused massive economic damage.
Total world shipbuilding orders for large vessels placed in the first quarter of 2020 totalled only 2.33 million compensated gross tonnes (CGTs), said British market analysts Clarkson Research Services. Chinese yards won most orders in the first quarter of 2020, with contracts for 1.51 million CGTs signed. South Korean yards took second place with 360,000 CGTs and Japan came in third with 180,000 CGTs. Some shipping companies are taking a wait-and-see approach, delaying their new ship orders until there is more clarity about the economic impact of coronavirus. At the end of March 2020, global shipyards held a total of 73.3 million CGTs of shipbuilding orders. China held the largest order backlog with 26.5 million CGTs, with South Korea holding 20.7 million CGTs and Japan 10.5 million CGT.
Global shipowners’ organisation BIMCO said shipbuilding contracting was already down before the coronavirus outbreak, a trend that has only worsened as the outbreak has spread, first in China and now in the rest of the world. The product tanker sector has seen the smallest fall in new orders placed in the first quarter of this year compared to last, with orders down 17.8% to 806,500dwt. Dry bulk shipping has had the steepest drop, falling to 1.6 million dwt in the first quarter of this year from 6.9 million dwt in the first quarter of 2019. BIMCO’s latest market analysis also shows that deliveries from Chinese shipyards have been delayed by between four to eight weeks thanks to yard closures during the coronavirus outbreak.
