S. Korean shipyards retain top spot in new orders in August

South Korean shipbuilders took the No. 1 ranking in new shipping orders in August for the second consecutive month on the back of orders for liquefied natural gas carriers, industry data showed Tuesday.

According to the data provided by global market researcher Clarkson Research Service, the Korean shipbuilders' new orders amounted to 630,000 compensated gross tons (CGTs), or 23 ships, in August, which took up 73 percent of the global new orders totaling 860,000 CGTs, or 36 ships, last month.

Korean shipbuilders' new orders have been increasing since June, reaching 250,000 CGTs that month and 560,000 CGTs in July.

Korean shipbuilders were trailed by Chinese shipbuilders with 210,000 CGTs, or 12 ships, and Vietnamese shipbuilders with 20,000 CGTs, or one ship, in August.

However, Korean shipbuilders sharply fell behind Chinese rivals in terms of new orders in the first eight months of the year.

During the period, Korean shipbuilders won 2.39 million CGTs in new orders, or 75 ships, taking up 29 percent of the global new orders, following Chinese shipbuilders with 4.37 million CGTs, or 201 ships, accounting for 54 percent.

Japanese shipbuilders ranked third, bagging 680,000 CGTs in new orders, or 43 ships, and 8 percent of the global orders.

Global new orders for ships more than halved to 8.12 million CGTs in the first eight months of the year from 17.47 million tons a year earlier.

Global order backlogs were slightly down by 740,000 CGTs, or 1 percent, to 69.19 million CGTs at the end of August compared with the same period a month earlier.

Chinese shipbuilders' order backlogs reached 25.47 million CGTs, or 37 percent of the total, followed by South Korean shipbuilders with 19.15 million CGTs and Japanese shipbuilders with 9.34 million CGTs. (Yonhap)