The Japan Ship Exporter’s Association (JSEA) announced on January 18 that Japanese shipbuilders contracted a total of 177 vessels of a combined 8.12m gt of export ships during the full 2012, which declined by 9% year-on-year.
Under the buyers' market, proportion of yen-denominated contracts shrank up to 20% (65% of foreign currency-denominated deal and 15% of yen-and-foreign currency denominated). Due to low newbuilding demand from local shipowners, proportion of net export ships increased to around 40% (69 vessels).
The bulker segment took the majority of orders, with proportion of  80% and Japanese shipbuilders booked small number of car carriers, VLCCs, LNG carriers, LPG carriers, PCs, boxships, etc.
Meanwhile, in 2012, Japanese shipyards delivered a total of 337 vessels of a cumulative 15.05m gt, down by 8% year-on-year, in gt terms.
Japanese shipbuilders stood on overall 606 newbuildings to be operate in exportation routes of a combined 27.57m gt and 12.34m cgt on the book, as of the end of December 2012, which downsized up to the level seen in 2002 after hitting the peak with 70.94m gt in September 2008.