Meng Lingru, an industry analyst with Shanxi Securities Co, said a 30,000-DWT bulk carrier could sell for more than 300 million yuan before 2009 in any shipyard in Nantong, a shipbuilding base in East China's Jiangsu province. But the price of such vessels has since sunk to 170 million yuan.

"Steel and labor costs keep rising, making profits even thinner, and our company is preparing for another difficult year in 2014," said Ji Fenghua, board chairman of Nantong Mingde Group, a privately owned shipyard with 7,000 workers based in Jiangsu province.

"We have almost finished the orders that were placed in the past two years, and there are new ones coming in," Ji said. "Although we've received another 13 orders for vehicle and self-unloading bulk carriers this year, prices have decreased at least one-third compared with levels before the global recession.

"As winter is coming, we are trying hard to control our budget to further lower the cost, including gas use, switching off lights and saving water."

Making matters worse, prepayments by foreign fleet owners, especially from Greece, Portugal and Estonia, have dropped from 75 percent of the total cost to less than 30 percent. Because of falling demand for shipping, many shipowners also are delaying delivery and payment dates on new ship orders.

"They think of any excuse to delay payment, like changes of design or stricter quality checks," Ji said.

"They know they have no work for the ships, so they'd rather not take them. This puts a heavy burden on us."