Japanese Foreign Ship Orders Plummet Nearly 25%

Japanese shipyards in June received foreign ship orders for 20 vessels, or 667,500 grt, down 24.4 percent from a year earlier, the Japan Ship Exporters' Association said. All of June's orders were bulk carriers. The most recent figure represented an increase of 17.8 percent compared to June 1997, it said. Last month, May orders marked a year-on-year increase of 371.8 percent.