The shipbuilding market is rife with talk over the future of China's privately-owned Taizhou Kouan Shipbuilding, with sources citing cash-flow problems, limited shipbuilding activity and the departure of more than 80% of the yard's workforce.

Shipbuilding players told TradeWinds that Taizhou Kouan had run into acute cash-flow problems last summer due to weak demand for newbuildings and poor down-payment terms on the projects that it secured a few years ago.