Japan’s Feb new ship orders rise 46% on year

Japan’s new vessel orders in February rose on year for the second month, or up 46.1% to 971,440 gross tonnes or 19 vessels, according to latest release by the Japan Ship Exporters’ Association (JSEA) on March 10, but steel consumption by the Japanese shipbuilders still declined as the new orders last month was 19.6% lower than in January, according to a JSEA official.

Orders in January had been rather high, so the on-month decline in February was not surprising, he added. Over January-February, new ship orders approximated 2.18 million gross tonnes, up 54.6% on year, according to the JSEA data. Higher orders in January and February saw the backlog among the Japanese shipyards up slightly by 3.4%