South Korea ranked No. 2 worldwide for new shipbuilding orders in August as global order placements slumped 65% year on year to 2.44 million compensated gross tons (CGT) across 82 vessels, according to Clarksons Research.
China led with 1.38 million CGT, while Korean yards booked 560,000 CGT, leaving the two countries with 57% and 23% market shares, respectively.
The month’s tally was also down 18% from July’s 2.97 million CGT.
Korea’s eight-ship August intake skewed to larger, higher-value projects: the average order size was about 70,000 CGT per vessel versus China’s ~24,000 CGT, implying continued focus on complex ships such as LNG carriers, VLCCs and ultra-large containerships.
Year to date (Jan–Aug), global orders totaled 34.48 million CGT (1,912 ships), down 14% from a year earlier; within that, Korea recorded 8.91 million CGT (251 ships) for a 26% share, while China booked 13.96 million CGT (872 ships) for 40%.
At end-August, the worldwide order backlog stood at 164.9 million CGT, down 0.98 million from July; China’s orderbook was 99.92 million CGT (61% of the total) and Korea’s 34.52 million CGT (21%).
The Clarksons Newbuilding Price Index eased to 186.26 (−0.39 point m/m); indicative tags cited this week put a 174k-cbm LNG carrier around $250 million, a VLCC about $126 million, and a 22k–24k TEU boxship near $273 million.