New ship orders affected By China's shipping industry export pressure will not ease

Since 2020, the import and export trade of China's shipping and spare parts industry has declined significantly due to the coVID-19 epidemic. Statistics from China Customs show that in the first seven months of this year, the import and export volume of China's shipping industry was US $14.432 billion, down 11% year-on-year, among which the export volume was US $12.019 billion, down 14.6% year-on-year. Imports reached us $2.413 billion, up 12.4% year on year. It is expected that the export pressure of Chinese ships will remain large in the second half of 2020. Liu Hengyu, director of the shipping branch of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Mechanical and Electrical Products, said shipowners' wait-and-see attitude towards future transport capacity demand, epidemic control, international port normalization and route adjustment will have an impact on the number of new ship orders this year.

According to the statistics of China customs, in the first six months of this year, China's exports of liquid cargo ships totalled us $1.917 billion, down 27.3% year-on-year. Imports of US $5 million, down 8.6% year on year; Imports and exports totaled us $1.922 billion, down 27.3 percent year-on-year. Affected by the shutdown and suspension of production caused by the Spring Festival and the epidemic as well as the disruption of international personnel exchanges, the total export value of China's liquid cargo ships fell significantly in February, March and May, respectively, by 97.0608 million US dollars (down 67.4% over the previous year), 49.31.13 million US dollars (down 2.6% over the previous year) and 230 million US dollars (down 41.5% over the previous year). In particular, the international personnel exchange is not smooth, so that the supervision, acceptance and other work can not be carried out as planned, causing a great impact on the delivery of ships in Chinese shipyards. "Said Mr Liu.

In the first six months of this year, China's exports of LIQUEFIED natural gas (LNG) vessels totaled us $395 million, accounting for 20.6 percent of the total exports of liquid cargo ships, a relatively high figure and an increase of 83.4 percent year-on-year. As the upstream raw material of clean energy (hydrogen energy), natural gas has great market potential. Shipowners have an increased expectation on the natural gas market and natural gas transportation capacity in 2020-2023.

In the first six months of this year, the export amount of refined oil ships and crude oil ships among liquid cargo ships showed a significant decrease compared with the same period of last year. The export amount of refined oil ships (refined oil ships with a deadweight of not more than 100,000 tons) was 352 million US dollars, accounting for 18.3% of the total export amount and 40.6% of the total export amount. The export value of crude oil vessels (including crude oil vessels with a deadweight of 150,000 tons or less, those with a deadweight of 300,000 tons or less, and those with a deadweight of 150,000 tons or less) was US $453 million, down 47.4% year-on-year." On the one hand, although crude oil is an indispensable upstream raw material for petrochemical products, the rapid development of short - and medium-term lithium batteries and the replacement of medium - and long-term clean energy have a great impact on the expected crude oil market demand. On the other hand, in the context of global economic weakness and trade frictions between China and the United States, oil prices have remained low for nearly three years, and shipowners are taking a waitting attitude towards the future situation of refined oil products and crude oil. "Said Mr Liu. According to the China Shipbuilding Industry Association, the number of new orders received by Chinese crude oil vessels in 2015 was 10.67 million deadweight tons, a new high in nearly five years, followed by an overall downward trend.

According to the statistics of China customs, the export value of Chinese container ships from January to June 2020 was us $430 million, down 26.5% from the same period last year. Global general trade has been significantly affected by the epidemic. During the same period, China's dry bulk cargo ship exports totaled us $3.989 billion, up 44% year-on-year. Among them, the export value of motor bulk carriers with deadweight of more than 150,000 tons and less than 300,000 tons was US $1.401 billion, a year-on-year increase of 149.4% and a relatively obvious increase. According to the data, China's dry bulk cargo ship exports increased significantly in January, April and June, respectively by us $890 million (up 65.6% year on year), US $707 million (up 94.4% year on year) and US $1.23 billion (up 88.8% year on year). In 2017 and 2018, new orders and hand-held orders of dry bulk carriers increased. In 2018, the number of new orders reached a new high in nearly five years, which enabled dry bulk vessel exports to perform well in 2019 and the first half of 2020. "Said Mr Liu.

Dry bulk ships to transport coal, iron ore, grain, steel, Liu Hengyu believes that in the second quarter of this year our country basic social production and life returned to normal, coupled with rising commodity prices, dry bulk transport demand, greater demand for dry bulk shipowners, ship delivery urgently, dry bulk exports is expected to have good export per