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South Korean shipbuilders overtaken by Chinese rivals |
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Saturday, 07 November 2009 |
 South Korean shipbuilders were outpaced by their Chinese rivals in the number of new orders received this year and order backlogs, according to a London-based market researcher Friday.
Korean shipbuilders such as Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and Samsung
Heavy Industries Co. won a combined 1.64 million compensated gross tons
(CGTs) in new orders in the first 10 months of the year, accounting for
31.8 per cent of all new global orders, said Clarkson Research Studies,
a division of Clarkson PLC, the world's leading shipping services
provider.
New orders at Chinese shipyards totalled 2.70 million CGTs during the
cited period, accounting for 52.3 per cent of the total, Clarkson said.
In October alone, South Korean shipyards won 214,825 CGTs, while
Chinese companies received 233,265 CGTs, according to the researcher.
Market watchers said Chinese shipbuilders have gobbled up new orders at
cheap prices, while South Korean shipbuilders have continued to focus
on high-priced vessels and offshore facilities.
South Korea, home to seven of the world's top 10 shipyards, has
clinched record-high orders in the past few years on strong demand for
crude carriers and offshore exploration equipment amid lofty oil
prices.
But orders for new vessels have sunk since the third quarter of last
year, as the credit crisis and the subsequent global recession have
prodded companies to postpone delivery dates or cancel orders.
South Korea also yielded the top position to China in the global
shipbuilding industry in terms of order backlogs, according to the
researcher and industry sources.
South Korean shipbuilders' combined order backlogs totalled 53.62
million CGTs as of the end of October, compared with Chinese rivals'
54.96 million CGTs, they said.
Source: Yonhap
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