Japan’s shipyards build the world’s best-quality vessels — this is a truth widely acknowledged and is reflected in the secondhand price premium they earn.
But high labour costs mean the nation's shipbuilders are pricing themselves out of the market, as the global orderbook shrinks to a level not seen for more than a decade.
Although it is not a new conundrum, Japan's yards are now reaching a critical tipping point, executives revealed at last week's TradeWinds Shipowners Forum in Tokyo.
