Clarksons Research reported that the global shipbuilding orders added up to 4.01 million CGT last month and 45 percent, 44 percent and 10 percent of the orders went to South Korean, Chinese and Japanese shipbuilders, respectively.

For the first seven months of this year, the orders totaled 29.7 million CGT, up 213 percent from a year ago. South Korean and Chinese shipbuilders won 43 percent and 45 percent of the orders, respectively. The contracts signed by the former in that period are the largest since 2008. The gap between the shipbuilders reached 8 percentage points in April but was reduced to 2.4 percentage points last month. For the seven months, Japanese shipbuilders won 9 percent of the total.

The global order backlog was 82.47 million CGT at the end of July this year, up 6.62 million CGT from a year earlier. South Korean shipbuilders’ order backlog increased 6.89 million CGT and the backlogs of South Korean, Chinese and Japanese shipbuilders were 26.87 million CGT, 31.63 million CGT and 9.26 million CGT, respectively.

Ship prices rose for the ninth consecutive month. The Clarksons Newbuilding Price Index reached 144.5 points in the first week of this month, topping 140 points in 10 years. The index fell from 191.5 points to 140.6 points from August 2008 to September 2011 and reached 121.4 points in March 2017.

The container carrier price index (13,000 to 14,000 TEU) rose US$8.5 million to US$138.5 million in the first week of this month. The LNG carrier price index rose US$5 million to US$196 million and the VLCC price index rose US$3.5 million to US$102 million.

Source: Business Korea