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South Korean shipbuilders are enjoying a booming liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) ship market, snapping up a significant number of new orders placed this year, industry data showed Sunday.
South Korean builders have won 31 LPG carriers out of 44 ordered so far this year, accounting for about 70 percent of the total by the number of ships, according to the global market researcher Clarkson Research Service.
The latest figure was sharply up from 34 orders in 2017, 48 in 2018 and 64 in 2019, it said.
Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., a subsidiary of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, has won 28 LPG carriers this year, becoming a formidable leader in the segment.
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. has bagged 9 LPG ships, which are all very large gas carriers (VLGCs).
Clarkson’s data did not include Korea Shipbuildings’s four new orders and Daewoo Shipbuilding’s two new orders announced last week.
The orders are a boon for the local shipbuilding industry, which was hit by shrinking global demand amid toughening competition with Japanese and Chinese shipyards.
Clarkson Research expected global orders for LPG carriers to rise 9 percent on-year to 48 ships this year, with the number likely to swell to 58 next year.
