China overhauls Korea in January ship orders

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China overhauls Korea in January ship orders

Korea has long boasted of being the world’s top shipbuilding powerhouse, but China has become a growing threat to that title.
Clarkson, a London-based shipbroker, said in a recent report that China outpaced Korea in monthly order volume for ships in January for the first time in a decade.
Chinese builders earned orders for ships to carry 1.4 million compensated gross tons last month; Korea’s orders were less than half that at 600,000 CGT.
China’s orders were half the world market that month, which was 2.8 million compensated gross tons.
The world’s third-largest shipbuilder by output following Korea and Japan, China has been aggressively nurturing its shipbuilding industry as a driving force behind national economic growth.
As one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, China said it would become the No. 1 shipbuilding country by 2015 by expanding and updating current facilities.
Although Korean companies, including Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., occupy the top six spots by order backlog, China has 27 ship manufacturers ranking within the world’s top 100 by production capacity, while Korea has only 14.
Industry analysts say Korean shipbuilders have been complacent since they obtained orders running through 2010, whereas Chinese firms have targeted a demand niche that their Korean counterparts failed to notice.
Currently Korea has order backlogs of 43.1 million compensated gross tons, versus the 28.3 CGT held by China.


By Seo Ji-eun Staff Writer [spring@joongang.co.kr]
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