Orders for Japanese shipbuilders fall 7% in 2024

The total volume of orders for vessels for export received by Japan's shipbuilders fell by 6.7% during last calendar year to 251 ships, equivalent to 11.16 million gross tons (GT), new data from the Japan Ship Exporters' Association (JSEA) show. Though the decline made for the fourth successive on-year fall, the result may have been worse had not the yards enjoyed a surge of orders in December.

"Calendar year orders were down on 2023 but the total was still comparatively high, and the order backlog – at 3.36 years – is still healthy," a JSEA official explained. The volume of orders that JSEA member firms received last month totalled 19 vessels in 913,400 GT, four times the