S. Korea reaches number one in global ship orders for February

As the Yonhap news agency reports, data from the Clarkson Research Institute, shows that South Korean shipbuilders ranked first in total new orders during February. Namely, local shipyards were awarded new orders for a total of 630,000 compensated gross tons (CGTs), in order to construct eight ships.

Chinese shipbuilders ranked second with 20,000 CGTs to build one vessel. Japan was third with 10,000 CGTs for one ship.

For January and February 2019, Chinese shipbuilders won orders totaling 1.24 million CGTs, followed by South Korean companies with 1.21 million CGTs and Italian shipyards with 240,000 CGTs.

However, China is first in the list of order backlogs with 29.13 million CGTs, followed by South Korea with 21.75 million CGTs and Japan with 14.52 million CGTs.

In addition, during 2018, South Korean shipyards ranked number one for the first time in seven years in terms of annual orders secured. Rising orders for LNG carriers assisted Korean shipbuilders retake the top spot.

Finally, South Korea lost its first position to China in 2012 and was second until 2017.