[Photo by Samsung Heavy Industries Co.]

South Korean shipyards topped ranking in July global order book for the first time this year thanks to their supremacy in liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels amid rising green demand at sea.

According to British shipbuilding and marine industry tracker Clarkson Research Services on Tuesday, Korean shipbuilders won orders of 500,000 compensated gross tonnage (CGT) or 12 vessels in July, bringing home half of global orders in 680,000 CGTs or 24 vessels. China ranked second with 140,000 CGTs (8 vessels) and Japan with 30,000 CGTs (1 vessel).

In the first seven months of the year, China secured the largest 57 percent of orders with 3.74 million CGTs (164 vessels), followed by Korea with 1.68 million CGTs (49 vessels), and Japan with 680,000 CGTs (43 vessels).

Total amount of orders between January and July, meanwhile, amount to 40 percent of the level in the same period last year.

Clarkson Research Services said that investment sentiment of shipping companies has fallen and they are increasingly taking a wait-and-see attitude following International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s regulations on discharge of sulfur oxides this year.

Total orders reached 21.18 million CGTs in 2018 before falling to 15.73 CGTs in 2019 and 6.61 CGTs this year.

Overall demand, however, is expected to improve in the second half of the year as Korean shipyards are awaiting LNG vessel orders including those from Qatar, Mozambique and Russia.

Korean shipbuilders – Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Samsung Heavy Industries Co., and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. (DSME) signed a preliminary agreement with Qatar Petroleum in June to build more than 100 LNG carriers. Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries also won letter of intents from Mozambique to build each more than 8 vessels.

Samsung Heavy Industries has also won an order from Russia to build five vessels and DSME is also expected to win an order for five vessels in the future.

Recently, Hyundai Heavy Industries also bagged an order to build up to 12 vessels for multinational energy firm Royal Dutch Shell.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]