South Korea won orders for building only four ships last month. 
 
According to a report by Clarksons Research revealed on Thursday, Germany won the largest number of orders to build eight ships or 590-thousand compensated gross tonnage(CGT). Rumania came in second and Vietnam third. China took fourth place with 83-thousand CGTs, followed by Japan posting 77-thousand CGTs.
 
Among five South Korean shipbuilders, only Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and Daesun Shipbuilding and Engineering won orders totaling 56-thousand CGTs. Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries obtained no orders. Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering also failed to receive orders for building commercial ships, apart from defense contracts. Samsung Heavy Industries, in particular, has not won a single order for five straight months.
 
An industry insider said that although the severe order drought is a worldwide phenomenon, South Korean shipbuilders are in a worse situation than Chinese and Japanese makers that secure orders with the support of their governments and business partners at home.