Korean shipbuilders are winning the most orders

Korean shipbuilders are one step closer to winning more annual orders than any other country for the first time in seven years.

According to market tracker Clarksons Research on Tuesday, Korean shipbuilders have won 10.26 million compensated gross tonnage (CGT) through October this year, 45 percent of the global total. As the end of the year nears, industry insiders say it is highly likely that Korea will hold top place and become the country that won the most shipbuilding orders this year.

The largest competitor is China, which has taken the top spot from Korea for the last six years. China came in second with 7.1 million CGT of orders through October. Japan came third with 2.67 million CGT of orders.

Korean shipbuilders have been showing signs of recovery from earlier this year, with three major ship makers - Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) - all winning significant new contracts.

Most recently, DSME won an order to build three very large crude carriers from Hunter Tankers, a subsidiary under Norwegian investment company Hunter Group.

One order is currently fixed, and two are optional and could be pursued by the end of this year.

Hyundai Heavy won orders to build 135 ships worth $11.1 billion until the end of October, while Samsung Heavy inked orders for 41 ships worth roughly $4.9 billion.

In recent months, however, China has gained ground. In October, China won 320,000 CGT of orders, taking 44 percent of the orders placed that month. Korea followed with 220,000 CGT of orders and Italy with 120,000 CGT, Clarksons said.

China also beats other countries in terms of order backlog. China reported a 27.81 million CGT of order backlog as of the end of October, while Korea reported 20.64 million CGT and Japan had 13.32 million CGT.

BY KIM JEE-HEE [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]