The analysis shows that the overall competitiveness of China's shipbuilding industry surpassed that of South Korea for the first time. South Korea's shipbuilding industry has performed well in recent orders for liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, but there are warnings that China's competitiveness should not be overlooked. This also means that measuring competitiveness only in terms of total order volume or the order volume of a specific vessel can easily lead to error in judgment.
On the 13th, the Korea Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (KRI) released a report entitled "The Comprehensive Competitiveness of the Value Chain of the Shipbuilding Industry Lagging Behind China and the Direction of the Korean-style New Marine Strategy". The competitiveness of the marine industry value chain is evaluated in five areas: research and development (R&D), design, procurement, production, maintenance (AM), service and demand, and the overall score is calculated. South Korea scored 88.9 points overall last year, second only to China (90.6 points). This is followed by Japan (83.1) and the European Union (71.4).
In various fields, South Korea has only shown competitive advantages in R&D, design, and procurement. China is much more competitive in terms of production, repair services and demand.
In terms of ship type, South Korea surpasses China only in terms of gas carriers and container ships. In terms of tankers, from 2022 onwards, China will be ahead of South Korea in competitiveness.
"China's naval modernization efforts have lasted for 30 years since the mid-90s of the 20th century and now have the largest navy in East Asia, surpassing the United States in the number of warships from 2015 to 2020," the institute noted.
In terms of order volume as of March this year, four Korean companies (Samsung Heavy Industries, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Marine, and HD Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries) occupy the first to fourth place on a single shipyard group basis. But in terms of total volume, China's state-owned shipbuilding group, China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), ranks first.
