London:Drewry’s latest Chemical Forecaster report shows the orderbook for chemical tankers is finally receding, something that is causing consternation among Chinese yards.
“The fallout of this has been disastrous for shipyards,” Drewry noted, “with many reportedly closing down in China.”
South Korean yards accounted for over half of the orderbook, with Chinese shipyards accounting for just under 30%. Japanese and Turkish shipyards took the remainder, but both had shares in single figures.
“The emergence of Chinese shipyards is significant,” Drewry said. Eleven years ago, only 34 chemical tankers with a total of 642,000 dwt had been delivered from just ten different Chinese shipyards. During the next ten years, Drewry statistics show more than 100 different Chinese shipyards delivered 627 ships with a total dwt of 10.6m dwt.
Eighty of the total 151 ships on the orderbook were delivered in 2012, all coming from yards in China, including several that were thought to have been cancelled. Of these 80 ships, 68 are below 20,000 dwt and most are in the 5,000 to 10,000 dwt class, with many now trading palm oil. [21/02/13]
