Hanwha Ocean Co.’s shipyard in Geoje, about 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul, is seen in this photo provided by the company. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea ranked second in new global shipbuilding orders in August after China, with overall order placements plunging 65 percent from a year earlier, industry data showed Friday.
Global shipbuilding orders fell 65 percent on-year to 2.44 million compensated gross tons (CGT) last month, according to London-based Clarkson Research Services. CGT is a metric that reflects the actual workload in shipbuilding.
South Korea secured 560,000 CGT in August, following China’s 1.38 million CGT, accounting for 23 percent and 57 percent of the total, respectively.
With an average of 70,000 CGT per vessel — nearly three times higher than China’s 24,000 CGT — South Korea appeared to focus on value-added ships, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and very large container carriers.
The global shipbuilding order backlog stood at 164 million CGT in August, down 980,000 CGT from the previous month. South Korea accounted for 21 percent, or 34.52 million CGT, while China held 61 percent, or 99.92 million CGT.
(Yonhap)
