Orders received by Japan’s shipbuilders last month for new vessels for exports plunged by 80.5% on year to just 217,470 gross tons (GT) in 10 vessels, according to new data released by Japan Ship Exporters’ Association (JSEA) on November 15. The total was also lower by 41.7% from September’s orders.
Within the total were six handysize bulk carriers totalling 150,900 GT and one Handymax carrier to 36,600 GT, the data show.
During last month, the Japanese yards also delivered 746,274 GT in 16 new vessels, up by 2.1% from October 2021.
Behind the plunge in new orders last month was the refusal of ship owners to agree to higher vessel prices being tabled by the Japanese yards, trying to offset higher materials costs including those for steel, sources said.
In September, the Japanese builders agreed to accept higher prices for ship plates of Yen 20,000-30,000/tonne ($142-214/t) from domestic integrated mills, as Mysteel Global reported.
Last month’s result means that during January-October this year, the Japanese yards won orders totalling 9.64 million GT in 224 vessels, lower by 27.6% from the first 10 months of last year. At the start of this year, the JSEA had been hopeful that full-year calendar 2022 orders would reach 10 million GT, but this is looking difficult to achieve.
Nevertheless, Japanese builders still have enough orders in backlog to keep their yards busy for about two years – despite delivering 152 ships this year to end-October, equivalent to 7.41 million GT, lower by 15.8% on year.
As of end-October, the order backlog held by Japanese builders through until Fiscal 2026 totalled 20.73 million GT in 455 vessels, the data show.
Written by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
Note: This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
Leave a Reply