Three in a Row
According to industry sources and London-based market researcher Clarkson Research Services on June 11, Korea recorded 4.332 million Compensated Gross Tonnage (CGT) as of May. China posted 1.955 million CGT, and Japan 2.226 million CGT. It has been four years since Korea topped the global ranking on the amount of ship deliveries, and the gap with China and Japan has been widening further.
This trend becomes a lot clearer by comparing the number of construction projects for shipyards. In terms of the number of shipyards that obtained an order for shipbuilding, Korea saw the figure increase from 14 in 2014 to 15 as of May this year. China, on the other hand, experienced a drastic reduction in the number, from 59 last year to 20 from Jan. to May 2015. The same is true for Japan, as the figure decreased from 48 to 15 during the same period.
Last year, Korea achieved 12.03 million CGT, exceeding China's 11.52 million CGT. As a result, Korea was able to nab the top spot in ship deliveries. It is the first time for the nation to outdo China in the amount of ship deliveries after 2009. The Chinese shipbuilding industry has suffered stagnant productivity since 2000, and the importance of mileage for the shipping industry has been increasing. Hence, experts are saying that those phenomena explain why China is increasingly experiencing a delay in ship deliveries and the refusal of ship deliveries.
Korea is expected to rank first in a backlog of orders in the near future. The global backlog of orders for shipyards is estimated at 180 million CGT this month. The number for Korea is 32.2 million CGT, following China (41 million CGT). Japan is third place with 19.3 million CGT. With the global backlog of orders drastically decreasing, the backlog of orders for Korea remains steady.
In contrast, China, which accounted for the half of the total orders worldwide, its backlog of orders is decreasing by a great deal, stemming from a drastic reduction in the amount of ship deliveries and orders for shipbuilding. If this trend continues, the industry predicts that Korea will outdo China in the backlog of orders in 2016.