The order backlog at South Korean shipyards has fallen to its lowest level in 10 years, according to data from Clarkson Platou. The nation’s shipbuilders had 28.44m cgt of orders as of end-February, the first time in a decade the backlog has fallen below 29m cgt.
South Korea’s orderbook is now a long way behind China’s 36.79m cgt.
Other new data out of South Korea shows how shipbuilding is declining as a nationally important industry.
The top 100 Korean companies in terms of market capitalisation have changed dramatically over the past 10 years.
CEO Score, a management evaluation site, investigated the top 100 companies in terms of market capitalisation in Korea, America, Japan, and Europe from 2006 to 2015. The results showed that the Korean top businesses in 2006 were mostly from ‘smokestack’ industries such as shipbuilding/machine equipment, construction/building materials, IT/electronics, petrochemicals and auto part manufacturing. However, the rankings changed dramatically in 2015 to the service sector, petrochemicals, construction/building materials, IT/electronics, distribution, and food/beverages.
Shipbuilding-related companies now make up just seven of the top 100 Korean conglomerates.
