CHINA has overtaken South Korea in new ship orders in the first two months of this year for the first time as the nation's shipbuilding capability expands along with booming global demand.

Despite the strong growth, industry officials said China still has some way to go in grabbing higher value-added ship orders from South Korea, which has been the world's biggest shipbuilder for years.

Chinese shipyards won new ship orders of 3.8 million dead weight tons in the first two months of this year, accounting for 49 percent of new orders globally, according to data from Clarkson, a United Kingdom-based shipbuilding industry consulting agency. That was compared with South Korea's two million DWTs in the same period.

As January and February orders are a barometer for the entire year, industry officials said they were surprised by China's speed. Yet some industry analysts said China's impressive growth in the first two months of this year is a temporary situation as global demand for bulk vessels peaked.

No doubts of the 226 new ship orders, 98 are bulk vessels, accounting for 63 percent of total orders in terms of output.

“It doesn't necessarily mean the nation's shipbuilding competitiveness has improved that much," said an analyst with Shenyin and Wanguo Securities Consulting Co, who preferred not to be named.

"Bulk vessels are low-tech ships," he said. "China needs to upgrade its shipbuilding technology to win orders for advanced ships such as liquefied natural gas carriers, luxury cruisers and very large crude containers to compete with South Korea."

But no one doubts China has the potential to be the world's top shipbuilder in the near future given its low labor and steel costs and determination to master core technologies.

Source:佚名