Japanese shipbuilders’ order intake has declined for four consecutive months.
Recently, the Japan Ship Exporters’ Association (JSEA) released the latest data on the order intake of Japanese shipbuilders for July 2025. In July 2025, Japanese shipbuilders received orders for a total of 7 ships, amounting to 394,700 GT, a decrease of 66.1% compared to 19 ships (1,165,900 GT) in the same period of 2024.
By ship type, the 7 new ship orders received by Japanese shipbuilders in July this year included 3 container ships totaling 251,700 GT and 4 bulk carriers (1 Handysize, 2 Handymax, and 1 Panamax) totaling 143,000 GT.
Since entering the 2025 fiscal year (April 2025 – March 2026), the monthly order intake of Japanese shipbuilders has shown a continuous downward trend year-on-year. From April to July, Japanese shipbuilders received a total of 62 orders for 3,261,700 GT, a year-on-year decrease of 45.5%. Specifically, the new ship orders received by Japanese shipbuilders over the past four months include 7 cargo ships (686,900 GT), 49 bulk carriers (2,176,550 GT), and 6 tankers (398,250 GT).
In the first 7 months of this year, Japanese shipbuilders received a total of 101 orders for 5,417,900 GT, a year-on-year decrease of 36.9%. Classified by ship type, this includes 12 cargo ships (958,580 GT), lower than the 20 ships (968,490 GT) in the same period last year; 80 bulk carriers (3,720,590 GT), lower than the 148 ships (6,541,630 GT) in the same period last year; 8 tankers (738,250 GT), lower than the 22 ships (1,030,290 GT) in the same period last year; and 1 other ship (480 GT).
Japanese media pointed out that although global demand for new shipbuilding remains strong, Japanese shipyards are unable to take on more orders due to a lack of sufficient berths and manpower shortages. Currently, the delivery berths of major Japanese shipyards for the next several years are fully booked, while in previous years Japanese shipbuilders have been continuously reducing capacity or even exiting the market.
As of the end of July this year, Japanese shipbuilders held a total order backlog of 613 ships (29.81 million GT), slightly down from 29.99 million GT at the end of June. Currently, the order backlog of Japanese shipbuilders remains high; based on the 2024 completion volume, the current order backlog is equivalent to approximately 3.4 years of construction workload.
