Shipyards in China, Japan and South Korea had their worst combined month for exports in a decade in November after a 54% drop to $2.8 billion. That was the result of a 77% slump in shipments from South Korea. In a longer-term context though the recovery, albeit faltering, can be seen in the 11% growth in exports seen over the past 12 months on a year earlier. New orders, shown by recent data from China for new vessels and anecdotal evidence such as MSC’s reported ship-lengthening upgrades, are continuing to improve. Japan’s shipbuilders, who have seen a 3% drop in exports year-to-date...