Japanese export ship orders tumbled for the seventh consecutive month in April on a year-on-year basis due to ship owners' flagging demand for new vessels amid the deep global economic slump.
Japan, one of the world's top shipbuilding nations along with South Korea and China, received orders for export ships totaling 410,170 gross tons in April, down a whopping 73.8 percent from the same month of last year, according to figures released by the Japan Ship Exporters' Association on Monday.
Japanese export ship orders suddenly started to plunge in October last year, when the global financial turmoil that had erupted the previous month began to take its toll on the real economy. The April decline followed drops of 83.9 percent in October, 79.7 percent in November, 91.1 percent in December, 75.9 percent in January, 84.0 percent in February and 81.0 percent in March.
Japanese shipbuilders received orders for eight export ships in April. Of the eight ships, seven are bulk carriers totaling 349,770 gross tons and one is an oil tanker of 60,400 gross tons. The eight ships total 170,132 compensated gross tons.
Japanese export ship orders sank at their fastest pace in 16 years in fiscal 2008, which ended on March 31, plummeting 46.8 percent from fiscal 2007 to 14,561,230 gross tons. The fiscal 2008 gross tonnage was also the lowest in seven years.
Japanese shipbuilders received orders for a total of 330 export ships in fiscal 2008, the smallest number in four years. Of the 330 ships, 276 are bulk carriers totaling 11,078,040 gross tones, 39 are oil tankers totaling 2,770,610 gross tons and 15 are general cargo vessels totaling 712,580 gross tons. The 330 ships total 6,704,499 compensated gross tons.
The April figures released on Monday show that there is no sign of a recovery in Japanese export ship orders on the horizon yet.