According to data recently released by Clarkson Research, South Korean shipbuilders ranked second in terms of orders taken in January this year, once again being beaten by their Chinese rivals.
The data shows that the global new ship orders in January amounted to 2.57 million compensated gross tonnage (CGT, 96 ships), a year-on-year decrease of 26%. Chinese shipbuilders took orders for 1.36 million CGT (41 ships), accounting for 53%, ranking the first in the world; while South Korean shipbuilders took orders for 0.97 million CGT (32 ships), accounting for 38%, ranking the second; Japanese shipbuilders took orders for only 0.1 million CGT (5 ships, 4%).
As of the end of January, the global total orders on hand decreased by 1.18 million CGT from a year earlier to 125.6 million CGT. China’s and South Korea’s orders held amounted to 62.17 million CGT (50%) and 38.69 million CGT (31%), respectively. Compared with the previous month, the hand-held orders of Korean shipbuilders decreased by 850,000 CGT, while those of Chinese shipbuilders increased by 150,000 CGT.
In terms of shipyards, Samsung Heavy Industries remains the largest shipyard with the largest amount of orders on hand at 10.5 million CGT, followed by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Ulsan Shipyard (9.9 million CGT), and Hanwha Ocean’s Yulpo Shipyard (7.9 million CGT) in the third place.
In January this year, the price of new vessels remained on an upward trend. By ship types, the cost of LNG carriers above 170,000 cubic meters was US$265 million, ultra-large crude carriers (VLCC) was US$128 million, and ultra-large container ships (22,000-24,000 TEU) was US$237 million.