Chinese shipbuilding orders set for further fall

The China Association of National Shipbuilding Industry is predicting that orders will shrink by 48.4 percent to 65.6 percent in 2009, reports Xinhua.

Weak demand will reduce new ship orders to 20 million dwt to 30 million dwt for the year, the industry association forecasts. China built 28.81 million dwt of ships in 2008, a growth of 52.2 percent over 2007. Howev new ship orders for 2008 were 58.18 million dwt, down 40.9 percent from a year earlier.

The impact of the global financial crisis on China's shipbuilding industry began to be felt last September, according to the industry association.

The association expects the central government will promulgate a stimulus package involving financial support for shipbuilding in the near future.