China's major shipping companies are eyeing newbuilding projects, they announced.
China's COSCO Group's President Wei Jiafu said the group plans to place orders for Eco ships and added that more shipowners would better to invest in newbuilding energy-efficient vessels and replace older vessels.
Besides, China International Marine Containers (CIMC) is spurring newbuilding investment as well. It signed a 12-year charter contract with CMA CGM on September 22 and awarded orders for a total of 10 9,200-teu boxships at Dalian Shipbuilding Industry (DSIC) and STX Dalian, totalling CNY 5.2bn ($828.3m).
Meanwhile, Chinese shipping industries consider now is good to invest in newbuildings as newbuilding prices do not seem to decline further, when global economy bodes well for recovery and raw material prices are possibly to rise from inflation.