China's shipbuilding industry was overtaken by South Korea, and the "single battle" in July has been lost, what is the problem?
Today's China is already a shipbuilding power, even South Korea, which has the world's advanced shipbuilding level, is not an opponent, and has been surpassed by China for several consecutive years, and last year's "single battle" also ended in China's victory. I thought that China's shipbuilding industry would continue to lead, but I did not expect to be surpassed by South Korea this year, and the "single battle" in July has also been lost. According to the data, South Korean shipyards won more than 50% of the world's new ship orders in July, and the number of orders received has been the first in the world for three consecutive months, far ahead of China, which ranks second.
South Korea's order volume in July reached 1.16 million CGT, but China only 620,000 CGT, the gap is too obvious, not only in July, 2022 money in 7 months, South Korea's shipbuilding orders have been leading, reaching 11.13 million CGT, accounting for 47% of the global total, China only 10.07 million CGT, accounting for 42%. If you look at the overall number of orders, China is not far behind, as long as the second half of the year has the opportunity to surpass South Korea, but South Korea shipbuilding has been dominating for 3 consecutive months, and it may not be easy to surpass in the next few months. Having maintained a lead for many years, why is China's shipbuilding industry suddenly overtaken, and what is the problem?
In fact, this is inseparable from the global energy pattern today. After entering this year, global energy demand has soared, of which natural gas is the most scarce, and countries are buying natural gas, while countries without pipelines can only buy liquefied natural gas through LNG ships. It should be known that LNG shipbuilding has always been the advantage of South Korea, and the large number of LNG projects released by Qatar have directly led to a surge in orders from the Korean shipbuilding industry, which has once again surpassed China. In addition, a major breakthrough in South Korea's shipbuilding industry is likely to keep it ahead of the LNG shipbuilding field. In the past, although China's LNG ship orders were not many, the overall profit far exceeded that of the Korean shipbuilding industry, because China has related technology patents.
But South Korea is different, because the core technology comes from the West, so even if most of the LNG ship orders are won, most of the profits are still taken by the West, and the profits obtained by Korean companies are extremely low. But this situation has now reversed, it is understood that South Korea has successfully applied high-manganese steel to the manufacture of LNG fuel storage tanks for the first time, which is not only an innovation in south Korean shipbuilding industry, but also a major innovation in the global shipbuilding industry. Storage tanks made of high manganese steel are highly in line with the requirements of low temperature resistance and strong sealing of liquefied natural gas.
This innovation by the South Korean side has directly enhanced its shipbuilding competitiveness and once again opened up the gap with China, and it is expected that it will be able to win so many orders this year. However, Chinese companies do not need to be discouraged, because there is competition to have motivation, although south Korean shipbuilding current orders are leading Chinese companies, but 2022 has only passed more than half, as long as The Chinese companies next exert their strength, there is still a chance to achieve overtaking. At the same time, good competition can also stimulate the development of China's shipbuilding industry, and in the field of shipbuilding, South Korea is indeed a respectable opponent.
(Text/Xi Le)
