Shipyards in China’s Jiangsu province saw newbuilding orders plunged in the first nine months of this year, impacted by the ongoing slump in the shipbuilding sector.

From January to September 2015, Jiangsu shipyards received 123 new vessel orders with a total tonnage of 5.02m dwt, representing a 72.4% plummet compared to the same period of 2014, according to data from the Jiangsu authorities.

Among more than 60 shipyards in the province, 18 of them that regularly report their figures to the authorities saw them take up 80 of the total new vessel orders with a total tonnage of 4.43m dwt, which is 88.3% of the province market share.

In the first nine months, Jiangsu shipyards completed a total of 226 newbuildings with a combined capacity of 12.27m dwt, an increase of 55.4% year-on-year. Among the total, 93.1% in tonnage terms were exported and the province took up 41.8% of China’s market share and 16.3% of global share.

The Chinese yards sat on an orderbook backlog of 1,001 ships with a combined tonnage of 60.09m dwt up until 30 September 2015, down 14.6% year-on-year. The 18 companies had on hand 811 ships with a total tonnage of 57.77m dwt.