South Korea’s shipbuilders edge China for top spot due to Greek orders

South Korea’s shipbuilders received orders for 18 ships worth 589,421 compensated gross tonnage from Greece, accounting for 20.7 percent of the country's total orders this year to help it regain the No. 1 spot from China in the third quarter.

According to market research firm Clarksons Research, Greece has now become South Korea's number one source of its orders.

South Korea received local orders for 15 ships worth 371,096 CGT, while 10 came from Saudi Arabia, and seven from Singapore.

Orders from Greek shipping companies allowed South Korea to record 1.42 million CGT in the third quarter, outpacing China’s 830,000 CGT.

Greece's Kyklades Maritime Corporation ordered two 300,000-ton crude oil carriers last month, and Evangelos Pistiolis ordered another two from Korea Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, worth a combined 420 billion won.

Meanwhile, Pantheon ordered two Suezmax tankers from Samsung Heavy Industries last month with an estimated value exceeding 120 billion won.
Pleiades Shipping recently signed a contract with Daehan Shipbuilding to build an Aframax crude oil carrier worth about 54 billion won.

Greece, which has the most ships in the world, has traditionally been ordering from Korean shipbuilders.

Greece's largest shipping company, Angelicoussis Group, has ordered 110 ships from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering since 1994.