95 ships! China's shipbuilding industry 'monopolizes' orders, once again topping the global charts

After falling behind South Korea in July, China's shipbuilding industry launched a strong counterattack last month, returning to the top spot on the monthly order taking list with a global market share of up to 90%, while South Korea's market share dropped to only 2%.

According to data released by Clarkson on September 5th, in August of this year, the global new ship order volume was 106 vessels with a total corrected gross tonnage (CGT) of 3.87 million, a year-on-year increase of 27% in CGT and a month on month increase of 63%. Among them, China undertook 95 ships and 3.47 million CGT, occupying the top spot with a market share of 90%; South Korea has undertaken 4 ships and 80000 CGT, with a market share of only 2%.

From January to August this year, the global cumulative new ship order volume was 1454 units and 42.07 million CGT, a year-on-year increase of 30% in CGT. Among them, China undertook 1015 ships and 28.22 million CGT, a year-on-year increase of 53% in CGT, with a market share of 67%, ranking first; South Korea undertook 181 ships and 8.22 million CGT, a year-on-year increase of 14% in CGT, with a market share of 20%, ranking second.

As of the end of August this year, the global order volume for new ships held was 1437.8 million CGT, a decrease of 690000 CGT compared to the previous period. Among them, the number of new ship orders held by China reached 77.15 million CGT, a year-on-year increase of 15.78 million CGT, and continued to rank first with a market share of 54%; South Korea holds a new ship order volume of 39.02 million CGT, a year-on-year increase of 340000 CGT, with a market share of 27%, ranking second.

It is worth mentioning that the prices of new ships in August this year continued to rise. At the end of August this year, the Clarkson Newbuilding Price Index was 189.2 points, an increase of 9% year-on-year and a 49% increase compared to August 2020.

In terms of ship type, the price of new LNG carriers with a capacity of 174000 cubic meters or more is 262 million US dollars, an increase of 500000 US dollars compared to the previous period; The Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) was priced at $129 million, unchanged from the previous month; The value of ultra large container ships was 273 million US dollars, an increase of 1 million US dollars compared to the previous period.

Since entering 2024, China and South Korea have once again engaged in fierce competition in the global shipbuilding market. China ranked first on the order taking list in January, March, April, May, June, and August, while South Korea won first place in February and July. The advantage of China's shipbuilding industry in accepting orders continues to expand. Especially from April to June, for three consecutive months, the monthly market share of Chinese shipping companies has been above 75%, while the market share of Korean shipping companies during this period was less than 15%, and the market share of orders received in June was even lower, below 10%.

Analysts point out that the strong volume of new ship orders and the large number of held orders may lead the South Korean shipbuilding industry to become more picky when accepting orders, adopting a "selective order taking" strategy. At present, the delivery berths of the three major Korean shipping companies in the next few years are basically sold out, and there is a lack of available dock space.

Despite the slowdown in order taking speed, the three major Korean shipping companies have exceeded expectations in order taking volume since the beginning of this year. Among them, South Korea's largest shipbuilding company HD Hyundai (formerly known as Hyundai Heavy Industries Group) has undertaken orders for 150 ships and sea equipment this year, with a total contract amount of 16.97 billion US dollars (approximately 120.51 billion yuan), achieving about 125.7% of its annual target of 13.5 billion US dollars for orders. Hanhua Ocean's order volume in the first half of this year has exceeded that of the entire year last year.

On the other hand, Chinese shipping companies are also continuing to maintain a strong momentum. At the end of August, COSCO Shipping Group launched a massive shipbuilding plan, and its subsidiary COSCO Shipping Container Lines signed a contract with Yangzhou COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry to build 12 14000 TEU methanol dual fuel container ships; Another subsidiary, COSCO SHIPPING Development, has signed 42 bulk carrier orders with two shipyards, including 22 from CSSC Chengxi and 20 from COSCO SHIPPING Heavy Industries. This marks the largest shipbuilding transaction for the company since its transformation into a shipping industry and finance operator in 2016. Similar to COSCO Shipping Group, China Merchants Shipping, a state-owned shipping giant, also signed a large order in August to build 5 306000 ton VLCCs and 5 115000 ton Aframax crude oil ships in Dalian Shipbuilding. In the first half of this year, China Merchants Shipping also ordered a series of LNG ships and bulk carriers from domestic shipyards.

It is reported that China Merchants Shipping and COSCO Shipping Group are advancing their respective "100 ship" plans, planning to add about 100 main ship types such as bulk carriers and oil tankers, significantly expanding their capacity to increase the proportion of "domestic goods and shipping" in the future