South Korea is again the world's leading shipbuilding nation and in 2019 accounted for 37% of global ship orders. Its share of total global orders, however, has shrunk from 44% in 2018.
Despite this, the country remains the world top shipbuilder for the second straight year. It won orders for 9.43 million compensated gross tonnage (CGT) out of 25.29 million CGT in total ship orders placed globally in 2019, said the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. South Korea's total shipbuilding orders were valued at $22.3 billion in 2019.
China was the world's second largest shipbuilder (8.55 million CGT) followed by Japan (3.28 million CGT) and Italy (1.14 million CGT).
In 2018, South Korea reclaimed the title as the world's biggest shipbuilder for the first time in seven years with orders amounting to 12.63 million CGT, or 44% of total global ship orders.
CGT refers to the comparative work content inherent in building a ship. It's based on gross tonnage, which is modified by a compensation factor relating to the complexity of the building process.
South Korea's shipbuilders again dominated the construction of some of the largest ships on the world's oceans. Among these monsters are LNG carriers that transport liquefied natural gas; very large crude carriers (VLCCs) or supertankers and ultra large container ships. The world's largest LNG tanker was built by South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries Co. and can carry 266,000 cubic meters of LNG. Samsung Heavy Industries also built the world's largest container ship, the OOCL Hong Kong with a cargo capacity of 21,413 TEU.
South Korean shipbuilders accounted for 94% of total global orders for large-size LNG carriers, 58% of VLCC orders, and 61% of large-scale container ship orders in 2019. South Korean shipbuilders have said they'll focus on building more LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) carriers in 2020 and beyond.
LPG carriers are emerging as a new moneymaker for South Korea's shipbuilders due to far stricter vessel fuel emission regulations set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and a boom in shale gas production in the United States. They've set their sights on making huger eco-friendly LPG and LNG carriers, the demand for which is expected to rise this decade.
IMO imposed a new regulation demanding ships have to use fuels with less than 0.5% sulfur content, down from 3.5%. This is an effort to reduce the amount of toxic sulfur oxide released into the atmosphere.
