China’s Jiangsu province shipbuilders have enjoyed an active first three quarters of this year on the back of strong shipbuilding activities, making it the country’s number one shipbuilding province.

Amid the ongoing slump of the shipbuilding sector, the eastern coastal province of China recorded a rise in newbuilding contracts and existing orderbook, but there was a dip in completed shipbuilding jobs.

In the first nine months of this year, Jiangsu shipbuilders completed a total of 177 ships with a combined tonnage of 7.9m dwt, down 15.2% year-on-year due mainly to requests by owners to delay the completion of the new ships in an oversupplied market.

From January to September 2014, Jiangsu shipyards received new shipbuilding orders for 321 vessels with a combined tonnage of 18.21m dwt, a surge of 61.2% compared to the previous corresponding period.

During the same period, Jiangsu yards sat on an existing orderbook for 1,189 ships with a total capacity of 70.4m dwt, a jump of 66.3% from a year ago.

Jiangsu’s Nantong city commerce department is looking ahead to a recovery in the shipbuilding industry, pointing to the considerable rise in newbuilding orders, higher demand for workers by the yards, and faster pace of upgrading of yard facilities.