Korean shipbuilders won 91 percent of the global orders for liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers in the January-November period of 2021.
The cumulative worldwide shipbuilding orders totaled 44,988,224 CGT during the first 11 months of the year, said Clarkson Research, a British shipbuilding and shipping market analysis company, on Dec. 5. China ranked first with 21,918,790 CGT (48.7 percent), followed by South Korea with 16,957,415 CGT (37.7 percent).
China’s shipbuilding order intake increased in 2021 as it won a large number of container ships. As maritime freight rates soared in 2021, orders for container ships surged 10 times compared to 2020, and China swept orders for container ships with its strong price competitiveness. Container ship orders totaled 19,103,190 CGT between January and November 2021, and China accounted for 59 percent of it. Korea logged 6,596,281 CGT (34.5 percent).
Korean shipbuilders focused on high value-added ships such as LNG carriers and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers rather than container ships, which are relatively less profitable. During the period, Korea took up 91.0 percent of global LNG carrier orders, which totaled 5,923,793 CGT. China had the remaining 9.0 percent.
