Vessel orders plummet by 38%

Domestic shipbuilding orders showed a sharp decrease last year.

According to shipbuilding industry reports released by the Korea Shipbuilder?s Association on January 24, domestic shipbuilders recorded 185 vessel orders, totaling 6.41 million CGT (Compensated Gross Tonnage), a decrease of 38.4% from 10.4 million CGT in 2000.

The drop is attributed to poor order placement in the wake of the global economic downturn and selective order receiving by shipbuilders who already had sufficient backlogged orders last year, marking a record-high order taking, said the association.

Tankers, bulk carriers, and container carriers marked deep drops in orders by 37%, 89.1%, and 58.8%, respectively.

However, domestic shipyards appeared to sweep away over 70% of the global LNG carrier market, the highest value?added sector among commercial vessels. i.e, LNG vessel orders increased to 23 vessels of 1.73 million CGT from 8 vessels of 610,000 CGT in 2000.

Accordingly, as of the end of last year total backlogs marked 475 vessels of 16.22 million CGT, a 1.2% decrease from 503 vessels of 16.41 million CGT the previous year. LNG backlogs jumped to 32 vessels of 2.43 million CGT last year from 9 vessels of 700 thousand CGT at the end of the previous year.

Total output last year came to 207 vessels of 6.45 million CGT, an increase of 6.6% from 180 vessels of 6.05 million CGT, supporting the continuous increase in shipbuilding that depends on sufficient backlogs and productivity increases.

In the mean time, total orders for global shipyards last year amounted to 19 million CGT as of the end of November 2001, stepping down 21% from the same period of the previous year, revealed the Clarkson. Total output showed similar amounts, 14.5 million CGT.