Page 12 - AsianOil Week 25 2022

GLNG ASIA GLNG

Chinese shipyards return to

work following lockdowns

PROJECTS CHINA’S leading shipyards are returning to pointed to a complete supply chain, a mature
work as lockdowns are eased in Shanghai. production line and self-developed core technol-
Indeed, those lockdowns contributed to South ogies that had been built up over years as factors
Korea overtaking China as the world’s top ship- providing an advantage to Chinese shipyards.
builder by orders. During the recent lockdowns, Shanghai ship-
In May, China won 34% of new orders, com- yards operated under closed-loop management
pared with 48% for South Korea and followed by and stockpiled necessary materials in advance,
Japan’s 17%, according to Business Korea. Some enabling them to ensure smooth production and
analysts now expect China to reclaim the top delivery during that time, according to Wu.
spot by the second half of this year. The order book for Chinese shipbuilders is
South Korea also benefited from orders still down nearly 50% for the year to date com-
for LNG carriers, which came in as Chinese pared with 2021. China reported just 2.3mn
shipyards were having to cut production. tonnes deadweight (dwt) for orders in May.
Now, though, the three Shanghai-based ship- Orders for 2022 to date totalled 17.7mn dwt at
building conglomerates, Jiangnan Shipyard, the end of May, up from 15.4mn dwt in April.
Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) If the trend continues, it will confirm that a
and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, have rebound is already underway.
resumed their operations. Meanwhile, global Globally, in the first five months of 2022, new
demand for containerships and LNG carriers in ship orders stood at 16.25mn compensated gross
particular is expected to keep growing, benefit- tonnes (CGT). China accounted for 7.16mn
ing shipyards in both countries. CGT of this, or 247 ships, with a market share
“Shanghai’s shipbuilders are back to more of 44.1%. According to Clarksons Research, this
than 70% capacity utilisation,” an independent represents a year-on-year decrease of 3.2 per-
shipping industry analyst from Shanghai, Wu centage points, with South Korea taking a 45.2%
Minghua, told the Global Times this week. Wu market share and rising to the top spot.™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 25 24•June•2022