Korea’s shipbuilding industry was overtaken by China’s shipbuilding industry in the global competitiveness rankings, according to a report.
China overtook Korea
China overtook Korea in overall competitiveness in the shipbuilding industry in 2023, according to the report titled “Comprehensive Competitiveness of the Shipbuilding Value Chain and New Directions for Korea’s Maritime Strategy” released by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET) on May 13. This marked the first time that China has beaten Korea in the shipbuilding sector since 2020 when the institute began to release related reports.
Among single shipyards, Samsung Heavy Industries, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean, and HD Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries ranked first through fourth in terms of order backlogs in March. However, when looking at shipbuilding groups, China Shipbuilding and Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), the largest state-owned shipbuilding group of China, topped the list by a wide margin.
Largest navy
China has the largest navy in East Asia and is likely to surpass even the world’s most powerful nation, the United States, in terms of the number of warships. China has the world’s largest merchant fleet, four times the size of the next largest, Korea.
Korea and Japan, on the other hand, have difficulty competing with China due to limited support for shipbuilding under the World Trade Organization’s fair competition system and a shortage of human resources, the KIET noted.
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Source: Businesskorea
