South Korean shipbuilders were able to bring home just four out of 38 ship orders around the world, pushing down their unrivaled first rank in terms of order book to sixth so far this year.

Until last shares, over 40 percent of global ship orders went out to Korea, doubling that of Japan and China.

According to Clarkson Research compiling from January to May, the number of ships ordered out last month totaled 38 in 1,060,000 compensated gross tonnage (CGT). CGT is an indicator of the amount of work that is necessary to build a given ship. Germany won orders of three cruise ships and five roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) ships, designed to carry wheeled cargo, with 590,000 CGT, ranking first last month.

Germany was followed by Rumania and Vietnam. Shipping company Topaz Energy in the United Arab Emirates placed orders of 15 cargo ships with the capacity of 15,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT) with shipbuilding companies in Rumania and Vietnam. DWT is a measure of a vessel`s weight carrying capacity and does not include the weight of the ship. Rumania obtained orders of nine with 140,000 CGT of 15 ships, ranking second, and Vietnam, six with 90,000 CGT, taking third place. They were followed by China that won orders of four 2,500 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container ships with 8,300 CGT and Japan that obtained orders of two container ships and two LPG ships with 77,000 CGT in total.

Korea won orders of four ships with 56,000 CGT. Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., one of the leading shipbuilders in the sectors of medium-sized conventional ships and specialized vessels, obtained orders of 40,000-DWT two ships designed to carry chemical products and Daesun Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., 6,500-DWT two ships for the same purpose.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co including Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co. and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. failed to obtain orders while Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. won orders only in the defense sector. In particular, Samsung Heavy Industries Co. failed to snatch a single order for five months this year.

China with 63 ships with 2,000,000 CGT ranked first in total orders accumulated between January and May. It was followed by European countries that own shipbuilding yards of cruise ships. Italy ranked second, obtaining orders of eight cruise ships with 890,000 CGT, while Germany took third place, winning five cruise ships and five ro-ro ships with 710,000 CGT. They were followed by France with two cruise ships with 330,000 CGT and Japan with 15 ships with 310,000 CGT. Korea ranked sixth, obtaining 14 ships with 270,000 CGT.

By Park Yong-beom

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