With Zero Orders in April, Korean Shipbuilding Goes Dark
Korean shipbuilders, who once dominated the global market, received zero orders in April, says Clarksons Research Services.
A report in Korea JoongAng Daily says that out of the 31 orders placed in April worldwide, 18, or 48 percent of the total, went to Chinese shipyards. Ten orders came from Chinese companies that wanted bulk vessels to be made in China.
The Japanese obtained two orders in the same month, whereas Korean shipbuilders, already facing government-led corporate restructuring measures, including layoffs amid ever-declining revenue and profit, failed to get so much as one. In March, China earned 26 orders, Korea received six and Japan got zero.
But it is unprecedented that the top three Korean shipbuilders - Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Samsung Heavy Industries - would obtain no orders for an entire month.
Since 2000, they have maintained some 100 new orders per quarter, and order backlogs held by shipyards will keep them busy for a while, but should the current pace persist, almost half the docks will be vacant by year’s end.
The three companies currently have 52,000 employees, and the number of workers at partner businesses amounts to 200,000.