China Became World’s Leading Shipbuilder

VLADIVOSTOK. July 20. VOSTOK-MEDIA – China has for the first time become the world’s largest shipbuilder, having surpassed Korea, based on three main industry indicators, Gazeta.ru news website reported.

The three indicators are the number of new orders, the overall portfolio of orders and the number of constructed and commissioned ships, Maritime Bulletin wrote on its website.

South Korea became the leader in shipbuilding industry seven years ago when it overtook Japan.

China has constructed 8,014,148 compensated gross tons’ (CGT) worth of vessels while South Korea built 7,470,889 CGT. China received 5.02 million CGT worth of new orders for the period of the first six months, which accounts for 41,2% of overall orders, while South Korea received 4.62 CGT (38%).

By the end of June China’s backlog reached 5,330,725,2 CGT while that of South Korea reached 4,925,175,3 CGT. China planned to overtake Korea by 2015, but has accomplished the task this year.