Value of Combined Orders Surpass 20 Tril. Won
South Korean shipbuilders won US$16.4 billion (19.5 trillion won) worth of shipbuilding orders in the first 11 months of this year, beating their Chinese rivals who posted US$15.3 billion (18.2 trillion won) during the same period, according to data released by Clarksons Research on Dec. 9.
The statistics did not include the US$1.5 billion LNG carrier contracts won by Samsung Heavy Industries in November. When the figure is counted, Korean shipbuilders’ combined orders surpass 20 trillion won.
Korean shipbuilding companies bagged orders totaling 7.12 million CGT (36 percent) by November, beating China with 7.08 million CGT (35 percent) and Japan with 2.57 million CGT (13 percent). This year’s global shipbuilding orders totaled 20.06 million CGT, a 37 percent plunge from 31.72 million CGT in 2018.
High value-added vessels such as LNG carriers accounted for 38 percent of the orders placed on Korean shipbuilders. The price tag of a LNG carrier is US$186 million (221.2 billion won), the most expensive among vessels. However, in the case of China and Japan, bulk carriers, the cheapest kind of vessel, accounted for 33 percent and 47 percent of the total orders, respectively. A bulk carrier costs about US$49.5 million (58.9 billion won).