Japanese shipbuilders signed 18 export ships of 550,000 gt in May, down 41% on a year ago in gt terms.
Japan Ship Exporters' Association announced on June 14 that the new orders consisted of 16 bulkers (seven handies, four handymaxes and five panamaxes) and two seismic vessels.
Despite the decrease in May, Japan's export ship order intake during January-May rose 27% year-on-year to 4.51m gt.
In May, JPY-based contracts occupied 28% while foreign currency deals took 52%.
Last month 29 newbuildings of 1.4m gt made it through customs, up 25% while 7.8m gt of newbuildings cleared customs by May this year, down 6% y-o-y.
Japanese yards' export ship orderbook stood at 933 ships of 43.14m gt (18.78m cgt) decreasing 2% m-o-m and 9% on 2010 end.