Though orderbooks are still packed, the maritime industry faces some tumultuous years ahead.
Though there are signs of economic recovery, the reality remains that the maritime industry is in for a tumultuous mid-term future, as a record orderbook of ships and boats enter an already beaten down market. Talk last week in Oslo at NorShipping 2009 centered not on if, but when the industry would experience its first wave of massive project cancellations and deferrement. At a dinner hosted by the the Norwegian Shipowners Associateion, Sturla Henriksen, Director General of NSA, simply said "if all of the tonnage now on order enters the marketplace, the industry will be depressed for years."
Today (June 23, 2009) the Korean market opened weak according to a report on RTTNews, with investors largely following in step with Wall Street's June 22 sell off.
Shares of shipbuilding firms experienced sharp losses, with Samsung Heavy Industries down 2.2%, and both Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding down more than 3%.