Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in JAPAN 2001
JAPAN SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY
Japan's Shipbuilding Industry
The world orders for newbuildings amounted to 28,939,000 GT in 1999, up 8.2% over the previous year, mainly because the newbuilding market was in the midst of replacing large ocean-going ships and the U.S. economy being favorable, supported increased seaborne trade although newbuildings were in oversupply worldwide. Newbuilding orders received by the Japanese shipbuilding industry remained at the level of 8,695,000 GT in 1999 as the Japanese yen strengthened against the won.
When forecasting the shipbuilding market, certain de-mand for newbuildings can be expected in short term since the world's economy will maintain comparatively good conditions for some time. The shipping market has continued good business activities, supported by the U.S. economy that maintains increasing trends in business, steady economic recovery in S.E. Asian countries, and diminished business slowdown in Europe despite the suspense that the EU economy would de-crease after unification.
On the other hand, the ship supply capacity worldwide has expanded due to increased shipbuilding capacity and productivity. As a result, ship supply and demand imbalance will increase, and the shipbuilding industry will confront severe international competition in the future. In such circumstances, the Japanese shipbuilding industry is now urgently required to restructure its industry into a highly-intensified operational setup to cope with diversifying demand for ships, focusing on cost reduction to compete on the world market.
New orders
The Japanese Shipbuilding Industry received newbuilding orders for 295 vessels totaling 9,888,000 GT in fiscal 1999, down 4.2% in the number of vessels and 6.6% in gross tonnage over 1998.
Looking into the ordered tonnage by principal types, cargo ships amounted to 7,815,000 GT (5,749,000 GT in 1998), tankers to 2,023,000 GT (4,749,000 GT), others to 50,000 GT (36,000 GT).
Cargo ships accounted for 66.0% of total orders, mainly bulk carriers as in the preceding year. Orders for cargo ships increased by 72.5% in tonnage compared with that of the preceding year.
Orders for crude oil tankers were 1,034,000 GT in total, down 73.9% over the preceding year. The share of tankers in total orders was 10.5%. Orders for VLCCs were included in this category, amounting to five vessels or 783,000 GT in total (20 vessels totaling 3,115,000 GT in 1998).
Orders for oil product tankers and LNG carriers increased in fiscal 1999 compared with those of the preceding year, and amounted to ten vessels totaling 317,000 GT (five vessels, 97,000 GT in 1998) for oil product tankers and four vessels totaling 407,000 GT (two vessels, 220 GT) for LNG carriers, respectively.
Orders for chemical tankers and LPG carriers decreased over those of the preceding year, i.e., 18 chemical tankers totaling 185,000 GT (25 vessels, 260,000 GT in 1998) and nine LPG carriers totaling 80,000 GT (12 vessels, 263,000 GT) were ordered from Japan.
Classified into domestic and export ships, vessels ordered by Japanese ship owners were 135,000 GT in total, which accounted for 1.4% of total orders (down 42.3% over 1998) and orders for export ships totaled 9,753,000 GT accounting for 98.6% of total orders (down 5.7%).
Orders for worldwide newbuildings in 1999 (calendar year) were 28,939,000 GT, indicating an 8.2% increase over 1998 according to the World Shipbuilding Statistics (Lloyd's Register).
Ship construction contracts awarded to Japanese, West European (AWES member countries only), and Korean shipyards were 8,695,000 GT (20.8% decrease), representing a market share of 30.0%; 3,716,000 GT (4% de-crease) with a market share of 12.8%; and 11,843,000 GT (34.3% increase) with a market share of 40.9%, respectively.
In the January to June term for 2000, newbuildings were 26,548,000 GT, with Japan having 7,164,000 GT (27.0% share), West Europe 2,880,000 GT (10.8% share) and the ROK 13,631,000 GT (51.3% share).
Shipbuilding Activities
In fiscal 1999, keels were laid for 314 vessels of 11,737,000 GT (up 103.6% over 1998), 328 vessels of 12,275,000 GT were launched (up 114.3%), and 323 vessels of 11,272,000 GT were completed (up 105.5%), showing an increase in keel laying, launching, and completion.
