Orders for shipbuilding in March 2010 to Double

Despite entire orderbook continuing to shrink, panamax bulker and small tanker order backlogs both edged up in March 2010.

According to Clarkson Research Services' monthly report released on Monday, global newbuilding orderbook as of April 1st stood at 8,061 ships of 153.2m cgt or 498.7m dwt, down by 22% from a year earlier.
Of them, South Korea took 50.8m cgt (167.6m dwt), China occupied 52.6m cgt (189.4m dwt), and Japan held 26.9m cgt (98.7m dwt).

In March, a total of 84 ships of 5.9m dwt were contracted, up 115% from a month ago in terms of vessels ordered. There were 52 bulkers and 23 tankers contracted last month.

By nations, South Korean shipyards received 39-ship orders, Chinese 28 and European 14.

As for accumulative order intakes so far this year, South Korea grabbed 6.7m dwt (1.5m cgt) orders, China secured 3.0m dwt (0.8m cgt) and Japan inked 0.2m dwt (0.1m cgt) with South Korea being the only country of which order intakes increased more than 50% year-on-year in the early part of 2010.

Clarkson said, "Optimism remains that contracting will continue to improve in 2010 as yards are forced to cut prices to fill future berths."
Last month, a total of 127 vessels of 10.1m dwt or 2.9m cgt were delivered, down by 44.5% against a year earlier in vessel terms.

There were 46 bulkers, 45 tankers and 18 containerships completed and delivered in the month.

As in January and February, China continued to deliver the most vessels, reporting 43 ship deliveries. However, in dwt terms, South Korea excelled and delivered most with 3.5m dwt, with Japan being close behind it delivering 3.2m dwt.

In March, the Clarkson Newbuilding Price Index rose for the first time since August 2008, increasing by 0.4 points to a level of 136.3 points.

» Big 4 new orders surge
» New orders push prices up
» Korea takes 43.6% of global orders