South Korean shipbuilders remain behind China in new orders in 2022

[Photo by Yonhap]

South Korean shipbuilders lost their number one position to Chinese rivals for a second year for new global orders in 2022 as clients turned to Chinese shipyards for natural gas carrier orders because Korean yards were full with previous contracts.

New ship orders worldwide were tallied at 41.93 million compensated gross tons this year, down by 22 percent from last year, according to Clarkson Research, a shipbuilding and shipping market analysis company in the U.K., on Thursday.

Korean shipbuilders won a combined 1.56 million CGTs in new orders, down 11 percent from a year ago, accounting for 37 percent of the global contracts. China ranked No. 1 with 2.03 million CGT orders, or 49 percent of the total.

Korean shipyards showed strength in gas carriers such as LNG carriers, with orders reaching 10.12 million CGTs or 65 percent of the contracts. Containership orders was 4.26 million CGTs.

Chinese shipbuilders won 6.76 million CGTs for container ship orders, 4.4 million CGTs for LNG carriers and 3.32 million CGTs for bulk carriers.

However, compared to last year, when Korea received 5.82 million CGTs, or 93 percent of the global LNG carrier orders, China has significantly increased its order volume and market share. Last year, China‘s LNG carrier orders were only 460,000 CGTs.