Korea Garners 86% of Global Shipbuilding Orders
Korean shipbuilders regained first place in order receipt in October by sweeping 86 percent of the world's shipbuilding orders. Chinese shipbuilders took only 10 percent of the orders in October. Korean shipbuilders solidified their number one position in cumulative orders by October this year.
Global shipbuilding orders reached 1.5 million CGT (38) in October, said Clarkson Research, a British shipbuilder and shipping analyst, on Nov. 12. Among them, Korea received 86 percent (1,120,000 CGT and 17 units), mainly 23,000TEU-class super-large container vessels and LNG carriers. In comparison, China took only 10 percent of the total orders (150,000 CGT and eight units) and Japan received orders for 30,000 CGT (two units) only.
As a result, Korea surpassed China in cumulative orders during the first 10 months of this year. Korea's total orders hit 6.95 million CGT (39 percent), outpacing China with 6.61 million CGT (35 percent). Third place went to Japan (2.3 million CGT, 13 percent), and Italy (140,000 CGT, 6 percent) nabbed fourth place. Korea’s cumulative orders touched US$15,970 million, surpassing China’s US$1,367.0 million. It kept the number one position for three months in a row.
Order backlogs increased only for Korea. As of end-October, the global order backlog was 74.54 million CGT, down by 960,000 CGT (1 percent) from the end of September. Japan and China recorded drops of 710,000 CGT and 630,000 CGT, respectively, but Korea, an increase of 940,000 CGT (5 percent).
Shipbuilding prices are on the rise, in particular those of LNG carriers which Korean shipbuilders excel at building.