The Korean shipbuilding industry has regained No. 1 spot in new shipbuilding orders in country rankings during the first quarter of this year. The feat has been achieved, however, due to a deep slump of the Chinese shipbuilding industry stemming from a lackluster global shipbuilding market.
The combined global new shipbuilding order during the first quarter came to 5.62 million compensated gross tonnage (CGT) and 211 ships, according to Clarkson Research Services, a global shipbuilding market analysis agency. Korea accounted for 41 percent of the total by winning orders amounting to 2.31 million CGT (60 ships), followed by Japan with 28.9 percent (1.62 million CGT, 34 ships), and China with 24 percent (1.35 million CGT, 79 ships). This is the first time in three years since the first quarter of 2012 when the Korean shipbuilding industry rose to the top spot in terms of new order volume acquired. At that time, Korea acquired 2.22 million CGT, narrowly defeating China whose order volume was 2.02 million CGT.
Despite ranking first, the industry outlook remains uncertain amid the current sluggish demand in the shipbuilding market. The global shipbuilding order volume in the first quarter amounts to one third of that posted in the same period of last year (16.19 million CGT). The volume of Korea’s shipbuilding orders was cut in half, from 4.55 million CGT of last year to 231 million CGT this year.
Nonetheless, Korea ranked No. 1 due to a severe slump of the Chinese shipbuilding industry. With its flagship bulk ship market deteriorating, Chinese shipbuilders are even trailing Japan. Analysts say that Korea and Japan were able to perform relatively better than China, given the two nations` high-performance ship technology than the latter. Korea ranked second in new order volume after Japan in January, but outperformed Japan in February and March in succession to rank No. 1 in overall new orders in the first quarter.
