By LUO Rong
China's shipbuilding industry from January to May has maintained growth in three key indicators: completed ships, new ship orders and backlog of orders, all maintaining global superiority.
At the end of May, the backlog of ship orders reached 118 million deadweight tons (DWT), a 15.5 percent year-on-year increase and a seven-year high.
From 2014 to 2020, the backlog declined to a low of 71 million DWT at the end of 2020. In 2021, orders began to recover and exceeded 100 million DWT in 2022.
From January to May, new orders for 26 million DWT were a 49.5-percent year-on-year increase. New orders in May alone reached 6.6 million DWT, 41.3 percent more than in April. Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Jiangnan Shipyard and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding were the top three yards in terms of new orders.
China's shipbuilding industry has been the biggest in the world for the past 13 years. Global shipbuilding is still a three-way carve up between China, Japan, and South Korea. In the first two months of this year, China's completions (33.3 percent) were second to South Korea's 41.1 percent, an uncomfortable position that was quickly remedied.
In the period, the 74 monitored enterprises brought in a total of 138 billion yuan, up by a third, and a total profit of 4.64 billion yuan, overturning previous losses.
China's capacity utilization index for the shipbuilding industry for the first quarter was 772 points up one percent from the fourth quarter of last year.
