7th, November, 2006
The 15th JECKU Top Executive Meeting was held in Busan, on November 2, 2006, with representatives from the most important global shipbuilders from Japan, Europe, China, Korea and the USA.
As in the past meetings, a free and open discussion on the issues surrounding the world shipbuilding industry enhanced a better understanding and mutual interests among the leaders in the world shipbuilding circles. At the Busan meeting, the participants actively exchanged views on the world shipbuilding market situation and other issues related to the industry such as world economy framework, supply and demand balance, projected capacity after 2010, cost evolution and international rules on ships etc.
They reckoned the current shipbuilding market remains strong in terms of workload and ship prices level by virtue of active fleet demand being backed by the sustaining growth of global economy. The representatives, however, took note of the importance of keeping global supply and demand in balance while securing a fair profit return, notwithstanding soaring raw material costs.
In addition, the participants also acknowledged the importance of making voices common concerning the ongoing discussions regarding international shipbuilding related rules or regulations by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In order to sustain a common interest, the world shipbuilders intend to be involved actively in the discussions for the making or revision of rules. For these purposes, they agreed to support strengthening of Committee for Expertise of Shipbuilding Specifics (CESS) activities, which were newly formatted at the JECKU meeting last year.
In conclusion, all the participants agreed to make constant efforts for a continued sound development of the shipbuilding industry and to share common perception on the world shipbuilding market situation.
The USA shipbuilders will host next meeting in 2007, reinforcing their support of the international commercial shipbuilding industry. The delegates have agreed to meet again in the middle of October 2007 in San Diego, California.