Southeast Asian Shipbuilders Turn Bullish
Despite the issues surrounding over-tonnaging in the ship-building industry as a result of the 2008 financial crisis, more than 587 vessels are expected to be built in Southeast Asia in 2015.
According to a report by Robert Willmington of IHS Maritime, Southeast Asian shipbuilding is anticipated to rise to more than 4.8 million gross tonnage (GT) in 2015.
The countries that currently dominate the conventional market segments in the Asian shipbuilding and repair industry are Japan, China and Korea, and around 37% of South East Asian shipbuilding orders account for container ships.
Orders by vessel type are container ships (37%), bulk carriers (7%), tankers (9%), general cargo (5%) and offshore (4%), according to IHS Maritime data.
“Yards in the region have been performing well despite the difficult market conditions,” said Willmington. “IHS market analysis suggests that Indonesia and Vietnam are the most likely nations to grow in the medium term. Southeast Asia’s highly skilled workforce and low labour costs hold an obvious attraction for foreign investors.”
Robert Willmington also stated: “A number of Southeast Asian shipbuilding countries have been boosting their offerings by developing shipbuilding and repair facilities in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. “Indonesia has around 200 shipyards, and the government has prioritized building oil tankers as the nation’s key ship export.
Meanwhile, Southeast Asian container volumes will continue to show strong growth through 2020, making the region's ports an attractive option for investors, according to Jason Chiang, the Singapore-based director of Drewry Maritime Advisors.
Asian container ports now account for 57% of the world's port container volumes. Most throughput passes over the piers of North Asian mega box ports in China, Japan, and South Korea, but Southeast Asia now has a 13.6% of global throughput after recording compound annual growth rates (CAGR) of 7.4% from 2000 to 2013.
Asia will remain at the heart of the global shipbuilding industry for the foreseeable future, although the relative strength of its key players will alter, said Sumanta Panigrahi, Managing Director and Head – Asia Pacific, Export & Agency Finance, Treasury and Trade Solutions at Citi.
