SIMIC

Korean shipbuilders won 1.12 million compensated gross tonnage (CGT), accounting for 52 per cent of the global total of 2.13 million CGT, surpassing China's 810,000 CGT, reports BusinessKorea.

However, in cumulative terms for the January-October period, China stood first with 19.93 million CGT (756 ships and 49 per cent), followed by Korea with 15.79 million CGT (373 ships and 39 per cent), and Japan with 3.71 million CGT (174 ships and 9 per cent).

The shipbuilding market has fully recovered in 2021. The cumulative volume of orders awarded in the January-October period was 40.99 million CGT, up 162 per cent from 15.63 million CGT in the same period of 2020. This is the highest since 2013 (46.98 million CGT).

By ship type, orders for large container ships soared due to the expectations for an increase in global trade volume. During the first 10 months of 2021, orders for 12,000-TEU container ships reached 11.09 million CGT (186 ships), up 804 per cent from 1.23 million CGT (16 ships) during the same period of 2020.

Moreover, during the same period, bulk carrier orders increased by 213 per cent, large LNG carrier orders (140,000 cubic meters or larger) by 99 per cent, A-max oil tankers by 66 per cent and VLCCs by 58 per cent. On the other hand, orders for S-Max oil tankers slid 54 per cent during this period.

Worldwide shipbuilding order backlogs in October swelled by 280,000 CGT from the end of September to reach 89.03 million CGT. By country, China had the largest order backlog of 36.33 million CGT (41 per cent of the total), followed by Korea with 28.82 million CGT (32 per cent), and Japan with 944 million CGT (11 per cent).

At the same time, ship prices are also on the uptick. In October, the Clarkson Newbuilding Index rose by three points from the previous month to 152.28 points. It was up 20 per cent from 127.11 points in January 2021 and crossed 150 points for the first time in 12 years since June 2009.