S. Korea Ship Orders Fall 46%

New ship orders for world market share leading South Korea, dipped 46% in 1Q 2002, according to government sources. New orders amounted to 917,000 cgt for 21 vessels (approximately $1.4 billion) down from 1.7 million CGTs for 55 ships (approx. $2.7 billion) in the same period last year. Some South Korean forecasts indicate that orders for new ships could be down between 14 and 22 percent in 2002, due mainly to the still recovering global economy and the unusually high level of new construction of new shipbuilding activity from years past.