China's order intake could be lower than Japan's in 2012.
Sources in Japan said that in 2011, China's order intake took 29.2% of global orders, lower than Korea's 47.2%. Also, Chinese shipyards have contracted overall 10.74m dwt during the first six months of this year, down by 50.3% year-on-year.
An industry player predicted that Chinese shipbuilding industries' 2012 new order would be lower than Japanese' order intake and be down to world's third place.
Another official revealed that among around 1,600-some shipyards in China, about one third of them are going through management crisis and will inevitably face restructuring.
China has been aggressively involved in newbuilding sales with lower labor costs, but from 2010, over-supply issue emerged. Moreover, amid Eurozone crisis and new order drought, some forecast that not a few Chinese shipyards would soon go into bankruptcy.