New Times Shipbuilding, one of China’s largest privately owned shipyards, has received local government approval to build another drydock, and has already sold a number of slots for the new facility. New Times has sealed a string of containership orders for the new 700 m long drydock in recent weeks for delivery in 2027 and 2028. Shipyards in Asia are making the most of the current newbuilding boom with data from a fortnight ago suggesting the number of active yards has leapt by 17.7% in the space of the last two years. In June 2022, there were 153 active shipyards, according to Greece’s Xclusiv Shipbrokers. This number climbed to 180 last month, with China accounting for most of the growth. Splash reported yesterday on Hengli Heavy Industry’s plans to up its annual shipbuilding capacity to 7.1m tons, more than twice its current output, one of many Chinese yards developing new facilities to meet extreme demand. “It is rumoured that the weak construction sector in China is releasing a large pool of workers to enter the shipbuilding sector,” Stuart Nicoll, director at UK consultancy Maritime Strategies International, told Splash. The weak construction sector in China is releasing a large pool of workers to enter the shipbuilding sector Nicoll also pointed to the restructuring and consolidation seen in the shipyard sector of recent years bearing fruit in the form of better organisation around flows of materials. Yard activation, predominantly in China, comes at a time when shipbuilders are basking in very long orderbooks, with prices at highs on a par with the all-time records set in 2008. Splash has reported recently on container delivery slots being marketed for 2029 and LNG slots being negotiated for as far out as 2030. Across the Yellow Sea in South Korea, HD Hyundai Samho, a major yard, today unveiled a new 530 m long outfitting quay. Featuring two cranes, the new facility, which was built in the space of one year, adds some 20% to the yard’s annual capacity. Shipyards’ global orderbook currently stands at more than 133m compensated gross tonnes (cgt), an increase of 56m cgt compared to the orderbook’s most recent low in late 2020, according to shipping organisation BIMCO. LNG and containerships have accounted for respectively 35% and 30% of the increase. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); });