| Japanese yard orders down 70% in February |
| Japanese shipyards' orders plunged almost 70% year on year in February, continuing its descent as investment appetite for newbuildings has been affected by the sluggish dry bulk market. Figures from the Japan Ship Exporters' Association (JSEA) showed its member yards clinched 14 export orders totalling 625,500 gt in February this year, down from 47 export orders of 1,975,170 gt in February 2014. Japanese yards specialise in building dry bulk carriers. The Baltic Dry Index's plunge to a historic low in February has been discouraging investment in bulkers, as China’s coal demand slows and Indonesia shows no sign of resuming exports of raw ore. A deluge of bulker newbuilding deliveries this year makes the market outlook bleak. The orders in February comprised five Handysize bulkers, three Handymax bulkers, two Panamax bulkers, two Aframax tankers, one LNG carrier, and one LPG carrier. JSEA member yards exported 25 ships of 768,386 gt last month. In terms of vessel numbers, that was unchanged from February 2014, but it was lower in terms of gross tonnage. February 2014 saw 1,191,523 gt of ships being delivered in January 2014. As of 28 February 2015, Japanese yards' outstanding orderbook stands at 635 ships of 27,584,160 gt, compared with 643 ships of 27,416,270 gt in February 2014. |