Winning Half of Global Ship Orders
Korean shipbuilders took first place for two consecutive months in June by landing half of the global shipbuilding orders.
Global shipbuilding orders totaled 660,000 CGTs or 18 vessels in June, according to Clarkson Research, a U.K. analyst of the shipbuilding industry, on July 9. Korea accounted for 340,000 CGTs (6 vessels), ranking first for two consecutive months after May.
China landed orders for seven ships (240,000 GTs), followed by Japan with 90,000 CGTs (five vessels). In terms of cumulative orders for the first six months of this year, China ranked first with 4,320,000 CGTs (176 units) or 42 percent of the total, followed by Korea with 3,170,000 CGTs (69 units), Italy with 1,110,000 CGTs (14 units) and Japan with 1,100,000 CGTs (62 units).
Worldwide order volume in June fell 41 percent from 1.12 million CGTs (37 units) in May. As a result, the global order backlog at the end of June stood at 78.89 million CGTs, down by 1.64 million CGTs (2 percent) from the end of May. The backlog reduction by country was 720,000 CGTs for China, 370,000 CGTs for Japan, and 350,000 CGTs for Korea.
Compared with the end of June last year, however, Korea chalked up an increase of 1.93 million CGTs or 10 percent. China and Japan posted decreases of 2.43 million CGTs (8 percent) and 4.83 million CGTs (26 percent), respectively.
In the meantime, the Clarkson Newbuilding Price Index in June touched 131 points, the same as May. LNG carriers and container vessels (13,000 to 14,000 TEUs) were priced at US$185.5 million and US$111.5 million per unit, respectively, while very large crude carriers (VLCCs) posted US$92.5 million per unit, down by US$500,000 from May.
Source: businesskorea.co.kr
