The world shipbuilding market continues to face serious difficulties, while certain South Korean yards are still pricing ships below cost, notes the European Commission's latest (fifth) report on world shipbuilding, adopted today. World ship prices are still being depressed by excess supply, due to past expansion of yards mainly in Korea. New orders did reach an historic high in 2000, bringing a brief price recovery, but then sank substantially in 2001, taking prices with them, in the wake of US recession and the effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks on demand for sea trade and cruises respectively. Declining orders for container ships and cruise ships cut the market shares of both Korea and the EU, which are particularly strong in these segments.