The Chinese shipbuilding industry suffered drastic declines in new orders in September, as the growth of the global ocean shipping market almost stalled amid economic slowdown.

New shipbuilding orders in September fell to 940,000 deadweight tons, the lowest monthly figure since June 2009, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

About 30 percent of China's 1,526 shipbuilding enterprises received no new orders in September, forcing some of the small and medium-sized ones to shut or stop production.

As a result of shrinking orders and rising costs, 249 enterprises suffered losses in the first eight months of 2011, 37.9 percent more than a year ago. Their total loses stood at 2.66 billion yuan ($420 million) at the end of August, said the NDRC.