Shipbuilders see waning orders, profits

BEIJING - Affected by waning global market demand and excessive industry capacity, China's shipbuilders witnessed declining new orders and profits in 2016.

The accomplished shipbuilding output in 2016 stood at 35.3 million deadweight metric tons (DWTs), representing a decline of 15.6 percent from 2015, said China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry.

Orders for new ships fell 32.6 percent year-on-year to about 21.1 million DWTs in 2016, the association said in a statement.

Ships built for the export purpose accounted for 94.7 percent and 77.2 percent of the accomplished shipbuilding output and new orders last year respectively, it said.

The combined business revenue of 1,459 large shipbuilding enterprises above the designated size reached 697.6 billion yuan ($101.6 billion) in the first eleven months of 2016, down 1.6 percent year-on-year, it added.

These shipbuilders raked in profits of 14.7 billion yuan in the first eleven months of 2016, decreasing 1.9 percent year-on-year.

The association attributed the stress facing the industry to a range of factors including dwindling global demand, China's excessive shipbuilding capacity, and financing difficulty for some shipbuilders.