Although global shipbuilding indexes show still weakness, after hitting the bottom this year, shipbuilding market would turn around and recover from 2013.
Analyst Yum Dong-Eun, HMC Investment Securities reported on March 12, "Low newbuilding price represents that the shipbuilding market is a "buyer's market" yet. And if shipbuilders achieve new order target this year, then shipbuilding indexes are expected to recover from 2013."
As of the first week of March, shipping indexes, in general, have slightly improved - BDI (bulker dry index) recently surpassed 800-some point level and SCFI (shanghai containerised freight index) rapidly jumped to 1170p.
On the other hand, newbuilding price are on a downturn - VLCC and capesize bulker went down to $97m and $47m each - along with second-hand price. Only newbuilding LNG carrier keeps its $202m level.
Improvement in shipping indexes and slump in shipbuilding indexes are a positive signal to newbuilding market. Uhm said, "This year would see quantitative recovery (order amount) than qualitative recovery (order value)."