South Korean shipbuilders ranked top in the volume of new orders won for the second consecutive month in February, outdoing their Chinese rivals by more than double, industry data showed Wednesday.
Global market researcher Clarkson Research Services said South Korean shipbuilding companies obtained orders totaling 1.39 million compensated gross tons (CGTs) in February, up 19.9 percent from 1.16 million CGTs a year ago.
The number is equal to 45.7 percent of the global ship orders of 3.04 million CGTs placed in the month, which was up 19.5 percent from a year earlier.
Chinese shipbuilders won orders reaching 589,975 CGTs, accounting for 19 percent of the total.
CGT, an indicator of the amount of work needed to build a given ship, is used as a tool to compare inter-country shipbuilding output. It is the generally used measure for the volume of orders received.
In the first two months, cumulative orders of local shipbuilders reached 3.13 million CGTs, 34.7 percent more than the 2.32 million CGTs of Chinese shipbuilders.
Market watchers said South Korean shipbuilders benefited from their technical superiority over their rivals in building liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers as the shale gas industry boom has created demand for such transport vessels.
The recent brisk development of shale gas in the United States has particularly increased demand for LPG carriers, orders for which have been won by South Korean builders, they said.
