China's Shipbuilding and Maritime Shipping Industries in a Funk

choi

Robert Wright and Simon Rabinovitch, China Vows to Turn Tide on Flood of Ships. Financial Times, Nov 4, 2011.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/002145 ... e-00144feabdc0.html

Quote:

"Li Shenglin, China’s transport minister, has pledged to slow deliveries from the country’s shipyards

"Rates in nearly all shipping sectors are too low to cover costs, as deliveries of ships ordered before the 2008 crisis expand capacity far faster than demand. At the same time, shipping companies are having to absorb fuel prices pushed sharply higher by rising oil prices.

"The crisis has been most acute for oil tanker operators, but has also hit container shipping companies and operators of ships carrying dry bulk commodities such as coal and iron ore.

"China Cosco , the Hong Kong-listed arm of China’s biggest shipping company, last week announced a Rmb1.63bn ($257m) net loss for the third quarter. Cosco, China Cosco’s state-controlled parent, is the world’s biggest operator of dry bulk ships and a significant container ship operator.

"China is the world’s largest shipbuilder by total tonnage produced, although South Korea still has the lead in value-adjusted measures of output.


My comment:
(a) Good news. The report is free.
(b) LI Shenglin 李 盛霖
(c) World Shipping (China) Summit 2011  国际海运（中国）年会2011
http://www.shippingsummit.com/2011/en/index.jsp
(Nov 2-3, 2011)
(d) General Maritime Corporation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Maritime_Corporation
(NYSE; operates crude oil tankers; Founded in 1997 by current CEO Peter Georgiopoulos)

Headquartered in Manhattan.
(e) COSCO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COSCO
(China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company; state-owned; headquarters in Beijing; ranks sixth largest in number of container ships and ninth largest in aggregate container volume in the world: owns and operates a fleet of around 550 vessels, with total carrying capacity of up to 30 million metric tons deadweight (DWT))
(f) deadweight tonnage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadweight_tonnage
(g) China has achieved No 1 title in a multitude of fields which it could once only dreams of (another is steel output). Hopefully it is happier.