The shipbuilding industry used to be the pride of South Korea and one of the pillars of the Korean economy. Since the 80s of the 20th century, South Korea has gradually surpassed traditional shipbuilding powers such as Japan and Europe to become the world's largest shipbuilding country by virtue of low cost, high efficiency and high-quality service. South Korea's three major shipbuilding companies, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Daewoo Shipbuilding, once monopolized more than 70% of the global shipbuilding market share, creating huge wealth and employment for South Korea.
However, the good times were short-lived, and since the financial crisis erupted in 2008, South Korea's shipbuilding industry has been in continuous trouble. Global shipping demand has fallen, oil prices**, offshore engineering projects have been cancelled or postponed, shipbuilding orders have plummeted, ** have declined, and profits have disappeared. At the same time, South Korea's shipbuilding industry is facing strong competition from China. For a long time, China's shipbuilding industry has not been the opponent of South Korea's shipbuilding industry at all, and it has been losing and losing, and as a result, because domestic shipyards have quite a lot of naval orders, they can't be built at all. The profit margins on naval orders are still good, which has led to the fact that China has raised a large number of shipyards, and all of them are alive and well.
Since 2000, China's shipbuilding industry has been trying to catch up with South Korea's shipbuilding industry and constantly improve its technical level and market competitiveness. With the strong support of the state, China's shipbuilding industry has achieved all-round development from low-end to high-end, from small to large, from civilian to military. China's shipbuilding industry not only has the world's largest shipbuilding capacity, but also continues to make breakthroughs in high-end ship types such as LNG ships, ultra-large container ships, large cruise ships and other fields, and even shows strong strength in marine strategic equipment such as aircraft carriers and destroyers.
Since 2020, the situation has begun to reverse, and in 2023, orders from China have climbed sharply, while at the same time, orders from South Korea have fallen sharply. Since January 2023, South Korea's shipbuilding industry has shown signs of rapid collapse, especially before entering the second quarter, when the Korean shipbuilding industry almost completely collapsed, and China's market share climbed to 80% at one point.
According to statistics released by Clarkson, a British shipbuilding and maritime industry analysis agency, as of September 2023, the total global ship orders were 1.86 million revised gross tons, while South Korea's orders were 120,000 revised gross tons, accounting for only 6%, ranking second. There is no doubt that China has an absolute advantage, successfully winning 1.53 million revised gross tons, accounting for 82%, far ahead.
The rise of China's shipbuilding industry has not only brought a huge impact to the Korean shipbuilding industry, but also brought profound changes to the pattern of the global shipbuilding industry. China's shipbuilding industry not only meets the domestic marine demand, but also provides more options and services for global shipping, marine engineering, and marine resource development. China's shipbuilding industry also provides strong support for the country's maritime strategy and international influence.
Of course, China's shipbuilding industry is also facing many opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, with the global economic recovery and the advancement of green transformation, the demand for shipping market is expected to continue to grow, especially in the fields of green ships, intelligent ships, and new energy ships. On the other hand, China's shipbuilding industry also has to deal with competition and changes in the international market, such as protectionism in Europe and the United States, tightening environmental protection rules, and the continuous emergence of new technologies. China's shipbuilding industry should maintain an innovative and open attitude, continuously improve its core competitiveness and international cooperation capabilities, and achieve high-quality development.
Conclusion
We have reason to believe that in the new historical period, China's shipbuilding industry will continue to maintain its leading position, continue to create brilliant achievements, continue to show China's style, and continue to undertake China's mission. What do you think about the development of China's shipbuilding industry?Welcome to leave a message in the comment area and join me**. Shipbuilding