This year, orders for domestic shipbuilders decreased from a year earlier, but their market share rose as overall market orders fell. In particular, Chinese shipbuilders saw a sharp drop in orders.
According to Clarksons Research, a British shipbuilding and shipping market analysis firm, cumulative orders in the global shipbuilding market from January through Nov. stood at 44.99 million CGT (compensated gross tonnage, 1,627 ships), down 37% from the same period a year earlier.
Korea won 10.03 million CGT in orders, down 5% from the same period last year. That is seen as holding up relatively well compared with rival China, which plunged 47% on-year to 2,664 CGT.
During this period, Korea’s global order share came to 22%. As a result, this year’s overall share is likely to recover to 20%. Last year, Korea secured 10.98 million CGT in orders, and its share fell to 17%, the lowest since 2016.
The order performance of the three major domestic shipbuilders also showed signs of improvement. As the United States tightened containment measures against Chinese shipbuilders, orders shifted to Korea, which is cited as the main reason.
HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering has secured a total of $18.16 billion (129 ships) so far this year, surpassing its annual order target of $18.05 billion. Hanwha Ocean also won $9.83 billion in orders, including 20 very large crude carriers (VLCC) and 13 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, exceeding last year’s $8.98 billion. Samsung Heavy Industries booked $7.4 billion in orders, including nine LNG carriers, nine shuttle tankers and nine container ships.
An industry official said, “Domestic shipbuilders struggled last year under China’s volume offensive, but this year they performed well thanks to U.S. measures to rein in China,” and added, “Next year, the global shipbuilding market is likely to be strong, so domestic companies’ order volumes will increase more quickly.”
Source: ChosunBiz
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