Japan’s new ship orders down 20% on year in 2020

New vessel orders received by Japanese shipbuilders during the calendar year of 2020 declined by 19.8% on year to 7.33 million gross tonnes in 146 vessels, or the second year posting with an on-year drop, according to the latest data released by the Japan Ship Exporters’ Association (JSEA) on January 18.

For December alone, new vessel orders signed totalled 879,930 gross tonnes in 18 vessels, down 4.2% on year but up 11.7% from November, according to the data. In recent years, the Japanese shipbuilders have been competing fiercely with their rivals from China and South Korea, but the latter’s contract prices have been much lower, so the