Japanese ship orders on the up
According to figures released by the Japan Ship Exporters' Association, Japanese export ship orders rose for the first time in 15 months in December on a year-on-year basis by 71.5 percent to 471,600 gross tons.
In December, Japanese shipbuilders received orders for seven export ships, a total of 189,852 cgt. In 2009, Japanese export ship orders plummeted 70.6 percent from 2008 to 111 export ships of 5,711,710 gross tons.
Japan has started providing financial support to shore up slumping exports of newbuildings and, in December, the government-affiliated Japan Bank for International Cooperation signed a general agreement arranging an export credit line for ships, worth up to $110 million, with Turkiye Is Bankasi, the largest private commercial bank in Turkey. The credit line is designed to finance the export of ships built at Japanese shipyards to Turkish buyers. It is JBIC's first credit line exclusively for the export of ships.
