This year would face more newbuilding cancellations than 2011, chinese data show.
In China during January-February period, orders for 22 vessels of a cumulative 1.18m dwt have been cancelled, which accounts for 0.8% of Chinese orderbook as of the end of February and 61.1% of total cancelled newbuildings in the country's shipyards in 2011, according to a recent report from the China Association of National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI).
Of those cancelled in the first two months this year, bulker takes 72% and tanker 27%.
CANSI said, "An increasing number of shipowners demand modifications to the type of vessel or payment terms and postponement of deliveries."
Statistics reported from CANSI show, during January-February period, 57 numbers of China's shipbuilding and shipbuilding-related companies saw revenue decrease by 7.3% to CNY 33.6bn ($5.32bn) year-on-year, while net profit fell to CNY 1.88bn, down by 26.2%.
CANSI analyzed that slow recovery in global economy and newbuilding price being unlikely to hike caused large-scale structuring of Chinese shipbuilding industry. Despite an estimated 70m-dwt delivery by Chinese yards for 2012, relatively slow ordering activity would keep orderbook falling.
Also, most of newbuildings scheduled for delivery in 2012 have been ordered after global financial crisis at low margin. Therefore, shipbuilding industry would post negative growth in key economic indicators.