South Korea's Joseon Tops Orders for 4 Consecutive Months

Cumulative Order Volume No.1 is China... Gap with Korea Narrows
Ship Orders Continue to Decline This Year
October's Cumulative Order Backlog Lowest Since December 2003

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Despite the dry spell in orders, the Korean shipbuilding industry has ranked first in global orders for four consecutive months starting from July this year.

According to Clarkson Research, a UK-based shipbuilding and shipping market analysis firm, Korea secured more than two-thirds of the global ship orders in October, totaling 1.04 million CGT (30 vessels), significantly surpassing China to take first place.

The total global ship orders in October amounted to 1.04 million CGT (30 vessels). By country, Korea accounted for 720,000 CGT (13 vessels, 69%), China 250,000 CGT (11 vessels, 24%), and Finland 30,000 CGT (1 vessel, 3%).

The cumulative order volume by country from January to October this year was China 5.22 million CGT (251 vessels, 45%), Korea 3.77 million CGT (107 vessels, 33%), and Japan 1.05 million CGT (69 vessels, 9%). The cumulative order volume gap between China, which was once leading by 39 percentage points in June, narrowed to 12 percentage points by the end of October.

The cumulative global ship orders from January to October over the past three years show a declining trend: 28.8 million CGT in 2018, 22.4 million CGT in 2019 (down 22%), and 11.56 million CGT in 2020 (down 48%).

This year’s cumulative order backlog stands at 67.34 million CGT, continuously decreasing since it recorded 80.86 million CGT in January. Notably, the cumulative order backlog in October reached its lowest level since December 2003.

This decline is mainly due to a sharp drop in container ship orders. By ship type, S-Max class oil tankers maintained last year’s order volume, but orders for Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) and A-Max class oil tankers decreased by more than 30%. Container ships (over 12,000 TEU) fell by 58% compared to the same period last year.

At the end of October, the global order backlog recorded 67.34 million CGT, a slight decrease of 560,000 CGT (1%) compared to the end of September.

By country, China (down 370,000 CGT, 1%) and Japan (down 300,000 CGT, 3%) saw decreases, while Korea was the only country to show a slight increase of 340,000 CGT (2%). The order backlog by country was China 24.31 million CGT (36%), Korea 19.02 million CGT (28%), and Japan 8.59 million CGT (13%).

The Clarkson Newbuilding Price Index for October fell by 1 point from the previous month to 126 points.

Looking at price trends by ship type, the S-Max oil tanker remained steady at 56 million dollars, while the VLCC and A-Max oil tankers each dropped by 1 million dollars to 85 million dollars and 46 million dollars, respectively. Container ships (13,000?14,000 TEU) also declined from 108 million dollars to 105.5 million dollars. LNG carriers (174,000㎥) remained unchanged at 186 million dollars since October last year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.