One-Third of China Shipyards Face Closure as Vessel Orders Slump

China, the world’s biggest shipbuilding nation, may see a third of its yards shut down in about five years as they struggle to win orders amid a global vessel glut, an industry group said.

The yards in peril of closure have failed to get any orders “for a very long period of time,” Wang Jinlian, secretary general of the China Association of National Shipbuilding Industry, said in an interview yesterday. They may end operations in three to five years if the “gloomy market persists.” The nation has more than 1,600 shipyards.

Chinese shipbuilders may face labor unrest after cutting jobs and diversifying into offshore equipment to offset the order slump while contending with the nation’s worst credit crunch in at least a decade. China Rongsheng Heavy Industries Group Holdings Ltd. (1101), the nation’s biggest yard outside state control, fell the most in almost a year in Hong Kong trading on July 3 after saying some idled contract workers surrounded the entrance of its main factory.

“Because of the overall market, there’s no way out for the companies; so only the strongest will survive,” said Sarah Wang, a Shanghai-based analyst at Masterlink Securities Corp. (2856) “Life for China’s shipyards will be tougher this year as any form of credit crunch is critical.”

The order book at China’s shipbuilders fell 23 percent at the end of May from a year earlier, according to data from the shipbuilders’ group. Yards have reduced down-payment requirements, with some slashing their rates to as little as 2.5 percent of contract value compared with 20 percent before 2010, according to UOB-Kay Hian Holdings Ltd. (UOBK)

Tight Liquidity

The nation’s clampdown on excessive short-term borrowing sent the overnight repurchase rate to a record 13.91 percent last month, forcing at least 22 companies including China Development Bank Corp., a backer of the shipping industry, to cancel or delay bond sales. Economic growth in China has held below 8 percent for the past four quarters, the first time that has happened in at least 20 years.

“Currently financial institutions themselves may have tight liquidity, so they are reluctant to lend money to companies in this sector,” China Association’s Wang said. “If they can help some good companies, there would be no problems.”

Share trading in Rongsheng was halted yesterday after the Wall Street Journal reported the company recently pared about 8,000 jobs. More than half of the employees laid off were subcontractors and the rest full-time workers, the Journal reported July 3, citing Lei Dong, secretary to the Shanghai-based company’s president.

‘Bad Market’

Rongsheng spokesman William Li declined to comment on the Journal report. Four calls to Lei’s office at Rongsheng went unanswered. Rongsheng Chairman Chen Qiang also declined to comment yesterday.

“Rongsheng’s move reflects the bad market,” said Lawrence Li, an analyst at UOB-Kay Hian in Shanghai. “More small-to-medium sized shipyards, especially those that lack government support, may take the same actions or even close down.”

Rongsheng had as many as 38,000 workers including its own employees and contract staff at the peak of the industry boom a few years ago, UOB-Kay Hian’s Li said. Brazil and Greece accounted for more than half of Rongsheng’s 2012 revenue, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The company posted a loss of 572.6 million yuan ($93 million) last year, after three consecutive years of profits, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It had short-term debt of 19.3 billion yuan as of the end of 2012, the data show.

New Orders

The shipbuilder targets new ship and offshore orders worth more than $2.3 billion this year, Chen said in Hong Kong in March. The company pared about 3,000 employees last year as it aims to return to profit this year, he said at the time.

Rongsheng’s cash conversion cycle, a gauge of days required to convert resources into cash, more than doubled to 582 last year from 224 in 2011, the data show. Its shares have fallen 15 percent this year in Hong Kong, compared with a 9.7 percent decline for the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

Ten of the 14 analysts tracked by Bloomberg recommend selling Rongsheng stock with the rest rating it hold. The company raised HK$14 billion ($1.8 billion) in its initial public offering in 2010.

Ship prices for a vessel that can carry as many as 13,500 boxes fell to $106 million in April, which was then the lowest since Clarkson Plc (CKN) started compiling the figures in June 2008. Contracts for new vessels halved to $84.7 billion in 2012, compared with $174.7 billion in 2008, according to Clarkson.

Korean Yards

About 464 shipyards in China won 18.7 million deadweight tons of orders worth $14.3 billion last year, the lowest since 2004, according to Clarkson. That compares with contracts for 14.6 million tons worth $29.6 billion received by 88 yards in South Korea, the world’s second-biggest shipbuilding nation.

China had 1,647 shipyards with annual sales of more than 5 million yuan at the end of December, according to the China Association. The sector contributed an industrial output of 790.3 billion yuan last year.

Shipbuilders are trying to offset the plunge in new vessel prices and orders by expanding their oil-rig business. Rongsheng announced in October its first order to make a tender barge while rival Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings Ltd. (YZJ) got its first rig contract in December.