A Record Year for S. Korean Shipbuilders

According to Asia Pulse/Yonhap, South Korea's shipbuilders enjoyed a bumper year in 2005, receiving the largest amount of orders in the world. Domestic shipbuilders received combined orders of 14.5 million compensated gross tons (CGT) in 2005, almost twice as much as the European Union, ranked second with 8.5 million CGT. The runners-up were China with 7 million CGT and Japan with 6.2 million CGT. Despite the industry's downturn, South Korean shipbuilders' global market share expanded last year to 38%, up from 36% a year earlier. At the end of last year, domestic shipbuilders had a combined order backlog of 39.7 million tons, breaking the 30-million-ton level for the second consecutive year. Korean shipbuilders were also tops in the tonnage of ships built, with 9.7 million CGT, or 36% of the global total.

(Source: Asia Pulse/Yonhap)