Experts attending the Nanjing International Shipbuilding Fair believe that China’s shipyards will face a new round of consolidation over the next two years because of a drying up of orders that began with the onset of the international economic crisis.

At the moment, China’s worldwide new build orders are second only to South Korea. According to the latest government figures, new orders totalled 12.8m dwt in the first four months of this year, 12 times more than in the same period in 2009. This represents nearly 50 per cent of the world’s total.

However, experts say that with Europe still only slowly recovering from the financial crisis, many ship owners are not in a hurry to add to their fleets. In addition, the strengthening Renminbi and rising iron ore costs are putting great pressure on shipyards, particularly small and medium-sized ones.

Jiangsu province is the largest shipbuilding base in China, with its new build orders accounting for nearly 40 per of the country’s total. However, according to provincial government statistics, several of its major shipyards did not receive any orders during the first four months of this year.