South Korean Foreign Ship Orders Drop

New foreign orders received by South Korean shipbuilders fell 15.7 percent in the first nine months of this year from a year ago, provisional figures from the Korea Shipbuilders' Association show. Orders in the nine-month period totaled 5.8 million gt for 110 ships, compared with 6.9 million gt for 121 ships in the same period a year earlier. New orders received in September alone totaled 1.2 million gt for 16 vessels. It did not give comparable 1998 figures. Backlogged orders at South Korean shipbuilders stood at 19.4 million gt for 310 ships at the end of September versus 19.4 million gt for 309 vessels a year earlier, the association said.