China retains No 1 place for shipbuilding

John Goss writes: The shipyards delivered 65.6 million dwt to maintain the country’s position as the world’s No 1 shipbuilding nation. However, China’s ship builders have remained heavily dependent upon bulk vessels which could be facing a glut within the next couple of years.

Despite the association urging the Chinese shipyards to diversify their vessel’s ‘product mix’ towards offshore vessels and other product types, bulk vessels accounted for 74% of the nation’s construction of vessels in 2010. In contrast to this high figure, container vessels, which have encountered a rebound in global demand since the third quarter of last year, have accounted for only 4% of China’s shipbuilding volume, according to the association’s figures for shipbuilding volumes in China.