Korean Shipbuilding Leads Orders for Three Consecutive Months... Ship Prices Steadily Rising

LNG carrier built by Samsung Heavy Industries. Photo by Samsung Heavy Industries

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The domestic shipbuilding industry has secured the top spot in ship orders for three consecutive months. The cumulative order volume from January to July was also recorded as the highest since 2008.

According to data from Clarkson Research, a UK-based shipbuilding and shipping market analysis firm, Korea captured 1.81 million CGT (24 vessels, 45%) out of the global order volume of 4.01 million CGT (100 vessels) last month, maintaining its position as the number one shipbuilder. This marks the third consecutive month Korea has ranked first on a monthly basis. China closely followed with 1.77 million CGT (49 vessels, 44%), and Japan ranked third with 0.4 million CGT (21 vessels, 10%).

Korea's cumulative order volume from January to July reached 12.76 million CGT (304 vessels, 43%), the highest since 15.5 million CGT in 2008. Year-to-date, Korea trailed China (13.48 million CGT, 474 vessels, 45%) by a narrow margin. However, the gap, which had widened to 8 percentage points in April, has narrowed to 2.4 percentage points. There are expectations that Korea could overtake China if high value-added vessel orders such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers pick up in the second half of the year.

Korea's order backlog (remaining workload) has increased for five consecutive months since February, reaching 26.87 million CGT. This represents a 34% increase compared to 19.98 million CGT during the same period last year, with Korea showing a larger growth rate than China or Japan. Currently, China holds the top spot in order backlog by country with 31.63 million CGT (38%).

The Clarkson Newbuilding Price Index, which gauges the price of newly ordered ships, has continued its upward trend for nine months, reaching 144.5 points in the first week of this month. The index recovered to the 140-point range for the first time in about 10 years since September 2011, when it was 140.6 points. By vessel type, container ships (13,000?14,000 TEU) saw the largest increase, rising by 8.5 million USD from the previous month to 138.5 million USD. LNG carriers increased by 5 million USD to 196 million USD, and very large crude carriers (VLCC) rose by 3.5 million USD to 102 million USD.

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