Korea's shipbuilders lag behind China's in April orders

A liquefied natural gas carrier constructed by Samsung Heavy Industries [SAMSUNG HEAVY INDUSTRIES]

Korean shipbuilders slid to second place in terms of new global orders in April, outpaced by China, industry data showed Tuesday.

Local shipbuilders clinched a combined 670,000 compensated gross tons (CGTs) in new orders last month, accounting for 14 percent of the 4.71 million global total, according to the data provided by global market researcher Clarkson Research Service.

The global total of 121 vessels saw an on-year increase of 24 percent.

Chinese shipyards far outpaced Korean players in April, bagging 3.58 million CGTs in new orders, or 76 percent of the world's total.

The data also showed the global order backlog reaching 129.91 million CGTs at the end of April, down 100,000 CGTs from a month earlier.

Korea's order backlog stood at 39.1 million CGTs, or 30 percent of the global total, with China's reaching 64.86 million CGTs, or 50 percent.

Clarkson's Newbuilding Price Index, a barometer of price changes in newly built ships, stood at 183.92 points in April, up 10 points from a year earlier, according to the data.

Prices per liquefied natural gas carriers larger than 174,000 cubic meters (6,144,752 cubic feet) stood at $264 million, very large crude oil carriers at $130.5 million, and very large container ships at $266.5 million.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]