As newbuilding ordering has been still at a plateau in September, offshore segment occupied around 67% of overall new order.
Clarkson reported on October 17 that in September, a total of 64 vessels of a cumulative 2m dwt were ordered. Of around $5bn of orders signed in the month, about 66.5%, $3.3bn was placed for offshore segment, particularly, drillship.
China's Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard booked an order for four 174,000-cbm LNG carriers jointly from China Shipping Group and Sinopec Corporation, with additional option for two.
New orders placed in the first nine months of the year declined to 763 contracts of a combined 31.1m dwt, totalling $55.1bn, down by 53.1% in dwt terms, by 35.3% in value terms and by 37.9% year-on-year in numerical terms.
Particularly, contracting in containership segment plummeted by 78.7% y-o-y in numerical terms, while total amount of drillship ordered reached $17.5bn, accounting for 31.8% of overall investment.
Korean shipbuilders have taken contracts for 169 vessels of a combined 10.7m dwt, 5.2m cgt, during January-September period, and maintained the world's first place in terms of cgt.
During the same period, Chinese shipbuilders contracted 293 vessels of a cumulative 12.6m dwt, 5m cgt. Whilst bulkers continue to represent the largest proportion of vessels ordered in China, their share of total contracting has decreased from 51.1% in full year 2011 to 43.3%, in numerical terms. Boxship contracts, on the other hand, have been quite successful.
According to Clarkson, Japanese shipbuilders have taken 89 contracts of a cumulative 5.9m dwt 3.5m gt (1.66m cgt), which represents a 48.6% decline in terms of vessel numbers and 34.8% decrease in dwt terms.
Meanwhile, Japan Ship Exporters' Association reported that Japanese shipyards have booked a total of 117 vessels of a cumulative 5.67m gt (2.66m cgt), during the same period.