VSM, German shipbuilder, commented that the industry trend in the world shipbuilding market of recent years has also continued in the past twelve months; in the Asian-dominated shipbuilding volume markets, demand is recovering slowly and remains below the production volume for the fifth year in a row, so that the order backlog continues to melt.
VSM Chief executive, Dr Reinhard Lüken, addressed that the German shipbuilding industry succeeds to a considerable degree in decoupling itself from these developments by concentrating on high-end niche markets: In seven of the last eight years, more orders have been acquired in Germany than delivered.
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Moreover, he highlighted that European shipbuilders should join forces to protect their high tech expertise.
It’s good to finally talk not only about the opportunities in China, but also about the system rivals. New ferries for the Baltic Sea are currently in operation; ordered only in China, because there are offered thanks to generous government support once again fantasy prices. For decades, we have been experiencing such market distortions without antidotes. That has to change.
Concluding, German yards have attacked Asian rivals for a long time over how they’ve been propped by governments with VSM hinting in the past it would be happy to see the matter in front of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
