New orders of China's shipbuilding industry in 2009 are expected to fall nearly 50 percent from 2008 to as low as 20 million deadweight tons (DWT), according to the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI), an industry association whose members include all major Chinese shipbuilders.
The association also predicted that new shipbuilding worldwide will fall to around 40 million - 60 million DWT.
Because of dwindling demand, China's shipbuilding industry, which is lacking in innovation, is further hit by a rise in order cancellation by shipping companies, CANSI said.
The country's shipbuilders enjoyed a sound return last year, with aggregate profits soaring 50.5 percent from 2007 to 28.34 billion yuan ($4.05 billion). The impact of the global economic downturn wasn't felt until September 2008,
The Chinese shipbuilding industry has a combined production capacity of 28.81 million DWT, accounting for 29.5 percent of the world's total, according to figures from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
China has overtaken Japan as the world's second largest shipbuilder after South Korea, according to Clarkson Research Studies, the British intelligence provider on the shipping and offshore industries.