The German Shipbuilding and Ocean Industries Association (VSM) reported that yards in Germany last year inked the lowest number of new contracts since 2001.
In terms of revenue, 2008 was an excellent year, VSM said. Yards delivered a total of 84 ships worth US$6 billion but new orders trickled in slowly and contracts for only 46 new vessels were signed (US$4 billion).
"The market environment has fundamentally changed in the last six months with a serious downturn in the entire maritime sector that has been faster and more dramatic than expected in the wake of the global financial and economic crisis," said VSM.
At the end of 2008, German shipyards had 172 vessels on order, but during the first quarter of 2009, 19 contracts, worth US$1.3 billion, were cancelled.
"Numerous cancellations… are causing gaps in companies' employment planning. 2009 will be a crucial year for the German shipbuilding industry."
VSM Chairman Werner Lüken said that while statistics showed that German shipyards had work to last the next two to three years, the reality was that the order backlog only applied to a few builders.
"Many shipbuilders will soon no longer be able to achieve full capacity utilisation. Short-time working across the board and possible redundancies will result."
He said that the main focus now was to get new contracts.
