According to data from CCTV Finance and Economics, Chinese shipbuilders will account for 60% of the global market in 2023, ranking first. With the rapid development of China's shipbuilding technology, South Korean shipbuilders have gradually lost their traditional advantages, and the number of orders has declined sharply. What adjustments will Korean shipbuilders make in their business strategies in the future?
According to the latest data released by Clarkson, a British shipbuilding and shipping dynamic analysis agency, on the 9th, the orders undertaken by South Korean shipbuilders in 2023 will only account for 24% of the global market, down 9 percentage points year-on-year, ranking second in the world.
Container ships were once the main type of ships that once promoted South Korea to the world's largest shipbuilding power, and were once the "cash cow" of Korean shipbuilders, but now it is difficult to make a profit. Affected by factors such as inflation and labor costs, South Korea's shipbuilding costs continue to rise, so it is difficult to compete with cost-effective Chinese-made container ships.
For example, Hanwha Marine, one of South Korea's largest shipbuilders, lost about 54 million yuan in a container ship delivered last year, almost losing one ship. As a result, there has been speculation in the Korean shipbuilding industry that Hanwha Marine may withdraw from the container ship field.
As South Korea lost to China again in the number of new ship orders last year, South Korean shipbuilders began to adjust their business strategies, expanding the types of ships receiving orders from liquefied natural gas carriers to methanol-powered container ships and ammonia carriers, and planned to strive to expand the number of orders for high value-added ships.
In 2024, Korean shipbuilders hope to improve their profitability by screening orders mainly for high-value-added ships, as the shipping industry is sluggish and the overall demand for ships is expected to decrease. Under this strategy, South Korea's three major shipbuilders have lowered their order targets for 2024, while striving to develop self-driving ships and other ship types to develop new markets.
*Please specify CCTV Finance.
Editor: Dong Lindan.