Japanese export ship orders sank for the 11th consecutive month in August on a year-on-year basis due to ship owners' flagging demand for new vessels, tumbling 66.8 percent to 11 ships totaling 639,550 gross tons, according to figures released by the Japan Ship Exporters' Association.
The year-on-year pace of decline in August quickened from July but was still the second-slowest since the nation's export ship orders suddenly started to plunge in October last year due to the global economic crisis.
Japan is one of the world's top shipbuilding nations along with South Korea and China.
Takao Motoyama, chairman of the Shipbuilders' Association of Japan (SAJ), is pessimistic about the industry's future prospects. "We have to prepare ourselves for a continued slump in new shipbuilding orders for some time to come," Motoyama, who is also chairman of Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding, said at a regular press conference on Tuesday.
During the January-August period of this year, Japanese shipbuilders received orders for 80 export ships totaling 3,934,120 gross tons, down a staggering 75.2 percent from the same eight-month period of last year. Of the 80 ships, 60 are bulk carriers, 15 are oil tankers, three are general cargo vessels and the remaining two are other ships.
The year-on-year pace of decline in August quickened from July but was still the second-slowest since the nation's export ship orders suddenly started to plunge in October last year due to the global economic crisis.
Japan is one of the world's top shipbuilding nations along with South Korea and China.
Takao Motoyama, chairman of the Shipbuilders' Association of Japan (SAJ), is pessimistic about the industry's future prospects. "We have to prepare ourselves for a continued slump in new shipbuilding orders for some time to come," Motoyama, who is also chairman of Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding, said at a regular press conference on Tuesday.
During the January-August period of this year, Japanese shipbuilders received orders for 80 export ships totaling 3,934,120 gross tons, down a staggering 75.2 percent from the same eight-month period of last year. Of the 80 ships, 60 are bulk carriers, 15 are oil tankers, three are general cargo vessels and the remaining two are other ships.