South Korean shipbuilding industries' global new order intake in the first quarter has plummeted in comparison with that in 2011.
According to Clarksons, Korean shipbuilders contracted a total of 22 vessels of a cumulative 0.5m cgt in March 2012 and maintained the first place for three consecutive months. China, during the same month, contracted 29 vessels of a cumulative 0.41m cgt.
In case of quarterly new order, Korea is ahead of China. However, total new order plummeted compared to last year. During Q1, Korea contracted overall 60 vessels of a cumulative 1.93m cgt, cut by 53% from 114 vessels of a cumulative 4.08m cgt in Q1 2011, while China contracted 73 vessels of a cumulative 1.05m cgt, down by 68% from 179 vessels of a cumulative 3.27m cgt.
Moreover, global new order only recorded 199 vessels of 3.8m cgt in Q1 this year, which reached the lowest since 1996, except 98 vessels in Q2 2009.
Therefore, orderbook has also been in decrease and small-to-medium shipbuilders, in particular, have plummeted their orderbook than a year ago.
As of early April, Korea's overall orderbook stands at 1,051 vessels of a cumulative 34.55m cgt, down by 20% from 1,466 vessels of a cumulative 43.33m cgt year-on-year. During the same period, Chinese backlog decreased by 26% to 2,363, vessels of a cumulative of 41.42m cgt from 3,325 vessels of a cumulative 56.22m cgt.
Also, newbuilding price keeps decreasing. Newbuilding price of VLCC is now around $97m, similar to that in March 2010, while those of capesize bulker and 13,000-teu containership dropped to $47m and $122.5m.
Meanwhile, in the first three months, only seven newbuildings in a cumulative 13,580 teu have been contracted in the boxship field, the biggest blow in the market. Small/MR product carriers and LPG carriers have been contracted a total of 25 vessels of 1.2m dwt and 22 vessels of a cumulative 0.35m dwt, respectively, largest quarterly record since 2008.
Also, a total of 10 vessels of 1.6m dwt LNG carriers have been contracted in the same quarter. Particularly, newbuilding offshore support vessels accounted for over a quarter of total contracts and led the newbuilding market.