South Korea regains status as top winner of new ship orders

Industry data showed that South Korea recaptured its status as the world''s leading shipbuilding nation in terms of new orders in February 2011 by beating China by a wide margin.

According to London based market researcher Clarkson Research Services, South Korean shipbuilders won a combined 1.27 million compensated gross tonnes in new orders last month, with Chinese shipbuilders clinching 161,903 compensated gross tonnes.
It is the first time since October that South Korean shipbuilders have regained the No 1 ranking in new monthly orders.
The volume of new orders won by South Korean shipyards in February was the highest since it came to 2.03 million compensated gross tonnes in July 2010.
In the January to February 2011 period, South Korean shipyards won 1.91 million compensated gross tonnes in new orders, while Chinese rivals received 1.29 million compensated gross tonnes.
As of early March 2011, South Korean shipbuilders took 32.3% of overall global order backlogs, up 0.4 percentage point from the previous month, but Chinese shipbuilders'' share was down 0.3 percentage point to 38.1%.
Meanwhile, the global total of order backlogs was up 0.4 percent to 137.9 million compensated gross tonnes during the same period, the first monthly increase since September 2008.