South Korean shipbuilders swept up a record number of lucrative orders last month, retaking the top spot in global shipbuilding.
As our Kim Hye-sung tells us... the surge in orders is attributed to growing LNG projects and increasing demand of eco-friendly vessels.
South Korea overtook China to reclaim its number one spot in global shipbuilding orders last month.
Data by Clarkson Research Services shows Korea won orders totaling 1-point-29 million compensated gross tons in October.
That's up more than 300 percent on-year.
Order value also went up three-fold to 2-point-six billion U.S. dollars last month, reaching a record high.
This came on the back of growing LNG projects and increasing orders of eco-friendly ships due to stricter environmental regulations across the world.
Korea won a total of 17 ships including four LNG ships and 11 Very Large Crude-Oil Carriers (VLCC), accounting for more than 80 percent of ship orders placed worldwide last month.
In the first ten months through October, Korea has won near 16 billion dollars of orders, which is more than any other country.
Korea is followed by China, Italy and Japan.
Order volume went down 35 percent to six-point-nine million CGTs between January and October, but was still the highest in the world, surpassing China's 6-point-one million CGTs.
South Korea's trade ministry says the increase in global orders for value-added ships like LNG carriers is expected to continue on demand from Qatar, Mozambique and Nigeria until early next year....and expects Korea to secure its number one spot in shipbuilding order value and volume for this year.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.