South Korea is world's largest shipbuilding nation

The latest statistics from Lloyd's Register have confirmed South Korea as the world's largest shipbuilding nation, with a 33 % share of the world order book.
Riding on the back of a massive wave of VLCC replacement orders South Korean yards saw their order books increase by 10.3 % over three months to reach 16.642 mm gt at the end September.
Japan, a long-term holder of the coveted top position, slipped back to second in the table, with a marginal increase in its order intake over the previous three months, taking its share of the world shipbuilding market to 31.3 %.
China, often touted as the next force in world shipbuilding, suffered a dent in its ambitions, as its order book suffered a slight decrease over the previous quarter.
An order book of 2.9 mm gt gives China 5.6 % of the market, a distant third in the world, behind the two pre-eminent shipbuilders of Japan and South Korea who account for over 64 % of the world market.
Reflecting a further decline of its shipbuilding capabilities, western European yards could only muster orders of 394,000 gt for the third quarter of 1997, securing them an order book of 8 mm gt, half that of South Korea.
Despite Italy, Germany and Poland maintaining fourth, fifth and sixth positions in the worldwide listings, with total order books of 2.1, 1.8 and 1.3 mm gt respectively, the latter two shipbuilding nations registered dramatic downturns of 17 % and 20 % respectively, a move partially reflected by the worldwide switch of emphasis from containership newbuilding to crude tonnage construction.
Similarly, Turkey also recorded a downturn in its order book, registering a decline of 40 % over the second quarter of 1997.
Other significant movements included Croatia, which registered an 8.9 % increase over the previous quarter.
Like South Korea, it has seen its order book rise on the back of significant tanker ordering boom.
Spain also recorded a rise in its share of the order book, up 2.6 %. The latest shipbuilding figures also show that the world merchant shipbuilding order book has risen for the fourth consecutive quarter.