China exceeds Korea in ship orders

Korean shipbuilders were overtaken by Chinese rivals in new orders acquired in the first four months of the year, a London-based market researcher said yesterday.
Korean shipbuilders such as Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. received a combined 6.9 million compensated gross tons, or CGTs, in new orders in the January-April period this year, up 6.9 percent from a year ago, Clarkson Research Studies said.
By contrast, new orders acquired by Chinese shipyards totaled 8.5 million CGTs during that period, up 65.2 percent from a year earlier. That made up 42 percent of all new global orders, which totaled 20.1 million CGTs, Clarkson said.
Japanese shipbuilders won a consolidated 1.2 million CGTs in new orders in the four-month period, down 71.9 percent from a year earlier, it said.
While Korean and Japanese shipbuilders with large backlogs of orders were unwilling to accept new orders, Chinese companies were keen to take them, market watchers said.
However, Korea still maintained its No. 1 ranking in the global shipbuilding industry in terms of backlog orders and the volume of vessels built, the market researcher said.
Korean shipbuilders’ combined backlog orders totaled 46.4 million CGTs as of the end of April, compared with Chinese firms’ 34.2 million CGTs and Japanese shipbuilders’ 29.7 million CGTs.
Local shipyards built 3.2 million CGTs in the first four months of the year, nearly triple the Chinese shipyards’ figure of 1.2 million CGTs.
Korea, home to seven of the world’s top 10 shipyards, clinched record-high orders last year because of strong demand for crude carriers and offshore exploration equipment amid high oil prices.
Korean shipyards are expected to see their exports rise 18 percent to $26 billion this year because of continuous demand for high-end ships and other products.