Has Shipbuilding Hit Bottom?

The shipbuilding industry shows signs of bottoming out with the global market index pointing to an upturn, & Korean players receiving more orders from abroad.

Citing  Clarkson Research Services, the Korea Times reports that a total of 277 vessels were ordered in the first quarter of the year, up 39 percent from the same period in 2012 and 93 percent from 2011.

Korean small and medium-sized shipbuilders also clinched record orders in the first quarter, for the first time in three years according to the Export-Import Bank of Korea, SPP Shipbuilding, Sungdong Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, and six other small- and medium-sized shipyards won a combined 601,000 compensated gross ton (CGTs) in orders in the January-March period, the largest since the first quarter of 2011 when the comparable figure was 764,000 tons.

Source: The Korea Times