Recent weeks have seen growing speculation about the number of offshore support vessels -both platform supply vessels (PSVs) and anchor-handling tug/supply (AHTS) vessels - on order at Chinese yards and the effect that this 'supply overhang' could have on an already severely depressed market. As one well known broker put it recently, "We should never underestimate the capacity of the Chinese shipyards to irrationally kill any sector of the shipping and offshore markets. Chinese vessels built by speculators have and are flooding the Asian market, and newbuilding prices are down 30 per cent or more. Official statistics report 405 units in the orderbook to be delivered - and we suspect there could be as many as 200 more unreported vessels from Chinese yards, so the supply problem can be easily seen."
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