February shipbuilding orders flatline, down 98.4% year-on-year

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Dalian: Shipbuilding orders received in February worldwide fell to 193,000 dead weight tonnes (dwt), down 50% month-on-month and by 98.4% year-on-year.
Governments across east Asia are scrambling to find financial solutions for the potentially empty swathes of dockyards built during the recently ended shipping boom. A significant ordering binge is unlikely this decade, with ship finance rarer than hen’s teeth right now. Moreover there are likely to be plenty more order cancellations in the offing. Norwegian classification society DNV said this week that 434 firm cancellations have taken place so far out of the 10,400-plus orderbook and that shipping’s downturn could last anywhere between three and five years. [12/03/09]