German shipbuilders’ association VSM’s chief executive Reinhard Luken says the €20bn ($23.12bn) orderbook in the country is the highest ever, according to his statistics.

The mid-2018 total compares with year-end figures of €17.6bn in 2017, €18.5bn (2016), €13.0bn (2015), €10bn (2014) and €9bn (2013).

We are in a world of ever faster changes and that is very hard to manage if you are very small

Reinhard Luken

“It is clearly a sound basis to do planning and optimise production,” he said.