Marine Log - October 2008 - (Page 35)

COVERSTORY China as the current “workshop of the world” has created a need for a significant increase of shipping capacity, both to take raw materials to China and other emerging Asian industrial centers and to export finished products Globalization and the shift to manufacturing in China and other lower cost centers helped the world shipbuilding industry reports its highest order level of all time at the beginning of this year, according to Lloyd’s Register Fairplay statistics, with a total of 10,055 ships on order totaling 329.7 million gross tons. South Korea had the largest order book: 2,242 ships totaling 97.8 million gt (50.2 million compensated gt). Still, China is catching up very rapidly. Six years ago, Chinese shipbuilding output accounted for 6 percent of completed newbuildings and it held a 12.3 percent share of the order book. At the end of last year China’s share to new order had grown to 33.9% of the world total, in terms of compensated gt, compared with Korea’s 38.7%. China held a 28.3% slice of the total order backlog in compensated gt terms, compared with Korea’s 35.7%. If you count things in terms of pure deadweight tonnage, China’s progress is even more remarkable. Last month Zhang Guangqin, chairman of the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry told the Nantong Shipbuilding Industry Development Forum that industry had booked 98.45 million dwt in new orders, accounting for 42% of the global total and that China completed 18.93 million dwt in 2007, accounting for 23% of the global total. That 18.93 million dwt annual output was way ahead of the 12.03 million dwt production for the first nine months of last year noted in a study published last December by Research in China. That study says the 12.03 million dwt represented a rise of 44% on the same period in the previous year. Exported tonnage, at 9.77 million dwt, made up 81% of output. New orders in the period reached 64.34 million dwt, up 120 percent from the year-earlier period, with export ships, at 57.22 million dwt, accounting for 89% of new orders. The order backlog, at the end of the first three quarters, stood at 129.35 million dwt, up by 111% year-onyear. At 113.07 million dwt, export orders accounted for 87 percent of the backlog. On the basis of these numbers, China had a global market share of 20.1% of shipbuilding output, 38.7% of new orders and 29.5% of the total world order backlog. www.marinelog.com Research in China attributes the industry’s success to a “cost-efficient labor force” and a 17% tax rebate tax on exports, giving it a cost advantage of 58% compared to South Korea. Research in China says the export value of China-made shipping reached $8.76 billion in the first three quarters of 2007, up 61.9% from a year earlier and exceeding the total exported value in 2006. Research in China also notes that Chinese ship repair and conversion activity has been booming, accounting for 35.4% of the total profits of the whole industry. WHAT ABOUT QUALITY? Is growth being achieved at the OCTOBER 2008 MARINE LOG 35 http://www.thordonbearings.com http://www.marinelog.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Marine Log - October 2008

Marine Log - October 2008 Contents Editorial Second Thoughts Update Inside Washington Fresh Fuel Ferries Exhibitors Preview Ferries get "Smarter" China's Great Ambitions Newsmakers Tech News Contracts Events Website Directory ML Buyer's Guide ML Marketplace Shipbuilding History

Marine Log - October 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.