South Korean shipbuilding companies received orders for just eight vessels in August as they continue to suffer from an extreme downturn in the industry.
 
According to British maritime market researcher Clarkson Research Services on Wednesday, new shipping orders across the world totaled 880-thousand compensated gross tons(CGT) for 41 vessels in August, up from 690-thousand CGT in July.

China won the largest number of contracts at 320-thousand CGT for 22 vessels, followed by South Korea with 210-thousand CGT and Japan with 130-thousand CGT.
 
Orders for South Korean shipbuilders included two very large crude carriers(VLCC) for Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, another two VLCCs for Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, three chemical tankers for Samkang M&T and one oil tanker for Kangnam Corporation. Half of the orders were for small vessels.
 
As of the end of August, the order backlog held by South Korean shipyards was 23-point-31 million CGT, which was the lowest since October 2003. The order backlog for China stood at 35-point-seven million CGT while it was 21-point-96 million CGT for Japan. The difference in order backlogs between South Korea and Japan narrowed from one-point-61 million CGT at the end of July to one-point-34 million CGT at the end of August.