S. Korean shipyards take 45% of new orders in Q3 to edge Russia for top spot

South Korean shipbuilders won 1.42 million compensated gross tons (CGTs) of new orders, taking up 45 percent of the total 3.19 million CGTs in the third quarter to beat their Russian and Chinese rivals for the top spot.

Russian shipbuilders took the second spot with orders of 860,000 CGTs, for 27 percent, while the third-placing Chinese got 830,000 CGTs for 26 percent.

In the January-September period, new orders of ships reached 9.75 million CGTs globally, down 51 percent from 20.03 CGTs last year.

China captured orders of 233 ships with 4.84 million CGTs, accounting for 50 percent of the total in the first nine months of the year to top the list.

South Korean shipbuilders came in second with 2.62 million CGTs for 81 ships, while third-place Russia got 930,000 CGTs representing 21 ships.

Japanese shipbuilders were at fourth place, snaring 850,000 CGTs, for 57 orders.

Chinese shipbuilders have the highest order backlogs with 24.65 million CGTs, or 36 percent of the total, followed by South Korean shipbuilders with 18.42 million CGTs, and Japanese shipbuilders with 9.05 million CGTs.

Backlogs in global orders dipped by 1.77 million CGTs, to 68.06 million CGTs at the end of September compared with the previous month.