[300421.EN.SEA] Korean Shipyards On a Roll With Sea Carrier Demand at its Highest Since 2007

 

SOUTH Korean ship builders are benefitting from the strong rebound in global sea commerce, similar to the peak days of 2007, according to Korea's Pulse News.

According to British shipping and shipbuilding market tracker Clarksons Research, global orders for new container vessels from January to March this year totalled 5,938,898 compensated gross tonnage (CGT), growing twice from the previous quarter and 10 times from the previous year.

It marks the highest volume in 14 years since the third quarter 2007 when the freight market was at its peak.

By capacity, global container ship order book amounted to nearly 1.40 million TEU in the first quarter, surpassing the order book capacity of around 1.37 million TEU in the third quarter in 2007. Average capacity for new container ship order increased to 10,130 TEU from 8,443 TEU over the period.

Korean shipyards dominate the container shipping order book. The big 3 shipyards in Korea - Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) - have secured orders for 62 container ships from the beginning of the year, with Samsung Heavy taking 34, KSOE 24 and DSME 4. Korean shipbuilders swept 34 orders out of 52 for ultra-large container ships (ULCS) and very large container ships (VLCS) with a capacity of more than 12,000 TEU last month.

Clarksons Research revised upward its order forecast for large-sized container carriers to 130 units by the end of the year, from its previous estimate of 60 units in September last year. It is more than three times higher than last year's order volume of 44 units. New orders for ultra-large vessels with a capacity of more than 15,000 TEU would significantly grow, the market researcher predicted.

Source : HKSG / Photo : Maritime Business World.