New shipbuilding orders placed at China’s shipyards have all gone to 54 of the country’s bigger shipbuilders in the first two months of this year, according to China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (Cansi).

Between January to February 2015, Cansi recorded 3.82m dwt of newly completed vessel capacity at Chinese yards, all of which are registered at the 54 larger yards named by the association.

At present, there are slightly more than 100 Chinese yards in “full operations”, a further downsizing from about 300 during the second half of last year, according to estimates by Ren Yuanlin, executive chairman of privately-owned Yangzijiang Shipbuilding. China’s shipbuilding industry continues to undergo a period of severe consolidation due to execessive yard capacity.

Ren told Seatrade Global earlier that China will be left with 20 to 30 shipbuilding companies with active operations when the consolidation phase is completed in the next few years.

The 54 bigger yards completed 5m dwt of new vessel tonnage in the first two months, up 25.3% compared to the same period of last year. The 5m dwt is just slightly below the national figure of 5.56m dwt, pointing to a concentration of operations in the larger shipyards.

As at the end of February 2015, the 54 bigger yards sat on an orderbook of 145.66m dwt, up 4.1% year-on-year, compared to a national orderbook of 147.6m dwt, up 9.6% year-on-year, Cansi data showed.

The association also monitors another set of figures from 88 main yards, including the 54 bigger yards. In the first two months, the 88 main yards completed a combined newbuilding tonnage valued at RMB53.54bn ($8.64bn), an increase of 6.9% from a year ago. The export value was RMB26.04bn, up 5.7%.

During the two-month period, the 88 main yards generated a total revenue of RMB34.2bn, a jump of 25.7% year-on-year but profit dropped by 4.8% to RMB330m.