Shanghai Shipbrokers Association News

Chinese banks are stuck in a lose-lose legal battle between domestic shipyards and foreign buyers over billions of dollars in refund guarantees that are supposed to be paid out if shipbuilders fail to deliver on time. One in three ships ordered from Chinese builders was behind schedule in 2013, according to data from Clarksons Research, a UK-based shipping intelligence firm. Although that was an improvement from 36 percent a year earlier, it was well behind rival South Korea, where shipyards routinely delivered ahead of schedule the same year. That means Chinese banks may be on the hook to pay large sums to buyers if the yards can't come through per contract, with little hope of recouping the cash from the yards.

The recent Offshore Support Vessel World Forum meeting in Shanghai believes that optimism is returning to global offshore markets. The forum is a platform for oil and gas producers, designers, builders, OSV owners, operators, contractors, classification societies, equipment suppliers and legal/financial service units to discuss and address future opportunities and challenges. The theme of the conference was 'Maximizing commercial opportunities amid OSV market recovery by meeting new technical challenges and regulations'.