Korea takes back No. 1 position in vessel orders

The Korean ship-building industry took back the No. 1 title from Japan after 2 years. Korean ship building companies enjoyed record-breaking orders of 13.6 million CGT (Compensated Gross Tonnage) between the first quarter this year and the third quarter while Japan only managed to dredge in 8.9 million CGT, said English ship-building industry market research firm, Clarkson. China followed Japan with 3.9 million CGT and Europe with 3.3 million CGT.
Encroaching upon the halfway mark, Korea owns a whopping 43.9% of the market, while Japan has 28.7%, China 12.6% and Europe 10.6%. Last year, Korea took 32.9% of the market, falling 5% behind Japan with 37.3%, 6.8 million CGT for Korea and 7.8 million CGT for Japan.
Coming into the fourth quarter this year, Korean ship-builders continued to receive orders for super sized container vessels and LNG carriers. Korea is expected to receive 16 million CGT this year in total.
An insider from the industry said that Korea would enjoy the business boom until next year because large container vessel and LNG carrier are waiting to be ordered and oil carriers demand will rise as the IMO has banned single hull oil carriers from sailing.