Supply Chain Research

Chinese shipbuilding yards received 3.33 million dwt of orders in March, the largest since April 2016 and the fourth straight expansion. That may be a sign of increased confidence from shippers after recent revenue growth, though the Japanese shipbuilders are still negative in their outlook. The forthcoming earnings reports from the shipping companies will provide more transparency on the outlook for the builders. Nonetheless, new orders in China were only 53% of production, with the result that orderbooks in total dropped to a new low.