Korea wiped out 43% of last year’s ship orders… Ranked 1st in 2 years, overtaking China

Input 2021.01.12 10:07 | Revision 2021.01.12 10:11

Clarkson “More ship orders will increase in 2021”

The Korean shipbuilding industry surpassed China and rose to the world’s No. 1 position last year, sweeping nearly half of the world’s ship orders. It has been two years since 2018 that it has been ranked first. Despite the decrease in ship orders due to the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), the Korean order share reached the highest in the last 10 years.

According to Clarkson Research, a shipbuilding industry analysis company on the 12th, the Korean shipbuilding industry has won an order of 8.19 million CGT out of the 19.24 million CGT (standard freighter equivalent tonnage) last year. Its market share is 43%, which is the number one in the world. After that, China ranked 2nd with 41% market share, and Japan 3rd with 7%.

According to the shipbuilding industry, domestic shipbuilders have earned orders for their flagship ships, such as LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) carriers, from the second half of last year. In the two months from November to December last year, it won orders of 4.11 million CGT, more than half of the total order volume. In particular, Korea won 2.85 million CGT orders out of 3.92 million CGT orders worldwide in December last year, taking 73% of the market share, taking the overwhelming first place.

By ship type, Korean shipbuilders are 36 (73%) out of 49 large LNG carriers (over 140,000㎥) ordered last year, 35 (85%) out of 41 VLCC (ultra-large crude oil carriers), and Suezmax-class crude oil carriers. Out of 28 ships, 18 (64%) were ordered. “It showed high competitiveness in the main ship type” is the industry evaluation. Last year, the cumulative global order volume was 19.24 million CGT, which was 66% of the 29.1 million CGT in 2019, but Korea’s order share (43%) was the highest in the last 10 years.

World ship orders this year are expected to increase from last year. According to Clarkson Research, as of the end of last year, the order backlog compared to the fleet amount was 7%, the lowest level since the 1980s. Clarkson predicted that this year’s global ship order volume will increase by 24% compared to last year due to such order backlog and demand for eco-friendly ship replacement according to IMO (International Maritime Organization) regulations.

Meanwhile, the Clarkson Newbuilding Index, which shows the trend of shipbuilding prices, showed 126 points, up 1 point from the previous December. This is a 4 point drop from 130 points at the beginning of last year. Compared to the beginning of last year ▲VLCC $92 million → $85 million ▲Suezmax class oil tanker $61.5 million →$56 million ▲Aframax class oil tanker $48.5 million→$46 million ▲Container ship (13,000~10,000 dollars) 4000TEU) fell from $119 million to $120 million. The LNG carrier (174,000㎥) was the same at $186,000 million.