According to the latest data released by UK-based Clarkson Company, an authoritative advisory body in the international shipbuilding industry, in July, the world's total new shipbuilding orders exceeded 6.3 million dead weight tons, and 1.2 times those of the first half of 2009. In May 2009, there were no global shipbuilding orders, setting the lowest record in at least seven years. In particular, no deal in the trade of new container ships was inked for eight consecutive months between November 2008 and June 2009.

Due to overcapacity of the shipping market, when the trade volume of new ships almost stagnated, a number of other severe situations of different levels also emerged in China's shipbuilding industry, such as order cancellations, ship delivery delays and financial strain.

China's state-owned and private shipbuilding enterprises have obtained relatively relaxed loans through encashment credit, bond financing and other methods, alleviating their financial pressures. Meanwhile, they have closely cooperated with ship owners to stimulate the market. In the first half of 2009, China's total export volume of the three main ship types reached 9.13 billion USD, accounting for about 70 percent of China's total ship export volume. With the exception of container ships, ship exports increased significantly.

As the global shipping market bottomed out in the second quarter, idle shipping capacity decreased to 1.2 million TEUs in the beginning of July from 1.42 million TEUs at the end of March, and China's shipbuilding enterprises also started to receive orders in bulk.

However, although the situation is optimistic, some experts have expressed a prudent attitude. "We believe that it is only individual shipbuilding orders received in the last two months that have greatly increased compared to that of the previous months, and it remains to be seen whether the shipbuilding industry can continue to recover in future," said CANSI experts.