Shipbuilders face up to a bleak future
Struggling shipbuilders could be weeded out within two years Spare a thought for the shipyards. Amid all the hand-wringing and soul-searching by ship owners bemoaning their terrible lot, there have been fewer analyses of the prospects for shipyards, or indeed their performance in recent years.Such a task has been completed by Paul Millbank of Steel Business Briefing in an Insight Paper* which makes for interesting, if fairly depressing, reading. SBB examines the issue from the point of view of impact on the steel industry and given its findings, there is limited cheer for either buyers or suppliers.Vessel deliveries are thought to have achieved an all-time peak of about 160m DWT in 2011, though if deliveries are viewed on a compensated gross tonnes basis, Millbank reckons the market peaked in 2010. Either way, going forward both measures look set to show a marked decline in the coming years.Data on delivered tonnage shows that China has enjoyed top producer status for the last two years, followed by South Korea and Japan. In 2011 these three accounted for close to 95% of world shipyard cgt deliveries, according to data from Clarkson Research Services.China overtook long-time leader South Korea in deliveries in 2010, having ...
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