Yangzijiang Shipbuilding has added 14 shipbuilding orders to its orderbook in July, via a mix of new contracts and options exercised, worth a total of $381m.
The new orders means the Chinese yard has secured a total of 33 vessels this year at a total of $832m, giving it a total orderbook of 85 vessels worth $4bn. At current levels, Yangzijiang will see the optimal use of its facilities up to 2020.
Yangzijiang reported the orders in its first half results, posting revenues of RMB8.47bn ($1.26bn) which is an increase of 49% compared to 2016. Profits improved by 61% to RMB1.39bn ($206.9m).
Ren Yuanlin, executive chairman of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, commented: “Yangzijiang stood the test of a challenging market reasonably well and this was attributable to our persistent pursuit of excellence. We seek constant improvement to every detail in our vessel design, energy efficiency, construction process, quality and stability, and cost structure. Through innovation and introducing new vessel products, we maintained a healthy order book backlog when the market was weak, and we are making good progress in order taking when market starts to recover.”
Looking at the global shipbuilding market, the company said that it is seeing a recovery most notably in dry bulk carriers supported by the higher volume of iron ore transportation and the ease of overcapacity, however demand for containerships remained weak.
