June Global Ship Orders Reach 820,000 CGT... Market Recovery Delayed

June Orders Up 26% MoM but Down 51% YoY
First Half Orders at 5.75 Million CGT (269 Ships)... Lowest in 10 Years Since 2010

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] In June of this year, the global ship order volume dropped to half compared to the previous year. The order volume for the first half of this year recorded the lowest since 2010.

According to Clarkson Research, a UK-based shipbuilding and shipping market analysis firm, the global ship order volume in June was 820,000 CGT (30 vessels), which is only 51% of the same period last year. However, it increased by 26% compared to the previous month (650,000 CGT, 31 vessels).

The order volume for the first half of the year was 5.75 million CGT (269 vessels), only 42% compared to the same period last year. It also decreased by 25% compared to the first half of 2016, when orders were low (7.66 million CGT, 423 vessels). However, the market is expected to somewhat recover in the second half due to large orders of LNG carriers from Mozambique and Russia.

In June, the order volume by country was China with 460,000 CGT (16 vessels, 56%), Korea with 250,000 CGT (4 vessels, 30%), and Taiwan with 40,000 CGT (1 vessel, 5%).

The cumulative order amount for the first half was $3 billion (37 vessels) for Korea and $6.9 billion (145 vessels) for China. Korea's order price per vessel ($80 million) was 1.6 times higher than China's ($50 million). This indicates that Korea still maintains an advantage in the ultra-large vessel market, even considering that there were no LNG carrier orders exceeding $180 million per vessel in the first half.

The cumulative order performance by country from January to June this year was China with 3.51 million CGT (145 vessels, 61%), Korea with 1.18 million CGT (37 vessels, 21%), and Japan with 570,000 CGT (36 vessels, 10%).

By ship type, orders for A-Max class oil tankers increased by 19% compared to the previous year (470,000 CGT → 560,000 CGT), and S-Max class oil tankers remained steady at 420,000 CGT. However, orders for ultra-large crude carriers (VLCC), container ships, bulk carriers, and large LNG carriers (140,000㎥) decreased.

At the end of June, the global order backlog was 70.77 million CGT, down 1.62 million CGT (2%) from the end of May. Japan (down 800,000 CGT, 8%), Korea (down 470,000 CGT, 2%), and China (down 230,000 CGT, 1%) all saw decreases.

Compared to the same period last year, Japan, China, and Korea decreased by 5.74 million CGT (38%), 3.2 million CGT (11%), and 1.73 million CGT (8%), respectively.

The order backlog by country was China with 26.13 million CGT (37%), followed by Korea with 19.76 million CGT (28%), and Japan with 9.54 million CGT (14%).

The global ship delivery volume in June was 2.35 million CGT, an increase of 200,000 CGT (9%) compared to May. Japan increased by 440,000 CGT (115%), while China remained steady at 660,000 CGT, and Korea decreased by 230,000 CGT (24%).

By country, delivery volumes were Japan with 830,000 CGT (35%), Korea with 720,000 CGT (31%), and China with 660,000 CGT (28%). The delivery volume from January to June this year was 13.82 million CGT, a decrease of 3.57 million CGT (21%) compared to the same period last year.