Global newbuilding contracts in 2012 were reported to be 1,948 vessels of a combined 38.34mGT, showing a 29% year-on-year decrease in GT terms.
Data from IHS said that by country, China outpaced Korea in new contracts, newbuilding delivery and orderbook in 2012 and Japan was said to be the only country which showed an increase in new order.
In 2012, Chinese contracted a total of 14.02mGT, down by 10% year-on-year, while new orders contracted by Koreans plummeted by 53% y-o-y to 11.92mGT, considering IHS' confirmed statistics during the first nine months of the year and preliminary numbers during October-December.
Particularly, Japan showed the only increase in new orders contracted among three countries in 2012, having signed 8.49mGT, 6% increase compared to the previous year.
As for newbuilding delivery of last year, China marked a total of 38.72mGT, showing a 2% decrease, while Korea and Japan saw decreases by 13% and 10% each to 31.19mGT and 17.34mGT.
Meanwhile, cancellation of newbuilding contract last year was calculated as overall 185 vessels of a combined 47.9mGT, representing a 35% decrease year-on-year in GT terms with a decline of 17 vessels in numerical terms.