Bulk carriers are considered the mainstay of China's shipbuilding industry.

This gave rise to a number of shipyards in the country in the 2000s and enabled China to become a leading shipbuilding nation. But for the last 10 months, the bulk carrier market has taken a backseat as containerships made up the bulk of newbuildings booked at Chinese shipyards.

According to Clarksons' China Intelligence report for October, Chinese shipyards secured 682 newbuildings of 18.3m