China is claiming that it will keep the crown of the world’s largest shipbuilding nation this year as it races ahead of South Korea in new order terms (DWT).
According to figures released by the China Association of the Shipbuilding Trade (CAST) between January and November this year the country’s yards have won orders for 33.6m-DWT.
That is down 47.34% on the previous year because of the shipping recession. But it is considerably better than nearest rival South Korea is faring.
CAST estimates that over the same period Korean yards have only won orders for 27.4m-DWT.
Yet even the Chinese admit the number one spot could be set to change hands again next year. Chinese government officials are quoted in Japanese financial daily Nikkei as saying that China’s specialist tanker and bulker markets will continue to be in recession this year while South Korea will benefit from an expected boom in high value ships such as LNG carriers.
According to Clarksons’ figures, by November this year China has won orders for 26.8m-DWT and South Korea 26.5m-DWT.
But in order value, GT and CGT terms, South Korean yards overwhelmed Chinese rivals.
South Korea has secured $46.7bn worth of orders of 24.5m GT or 13.2m CGT during the 11 months of this year while China inked $18.1bn orders totalling 16.9m GT or 8.7m CGT, according to Clarksons.