April was a very good month for South Korean shipbuilders as they topped global ship orders.
 
Korean shipyards beat China and Japan to take the number one global position in new orders, with requests for 12 ships amounting to 340-thousand compensated gross tons(CGTs).
 
The new orders won by South Korea include six very large crude carriers(VLCC), two ethylene-LPG carriers and four petroleum product carriers.
 
China came in second with 260-thousand CGTs. Japan won no contracts last month.
 
In April, new orders for 28 ships worth 750-thousand CGTs were issued globally. The accumulated number of new orders from January through April amounted to four-point-71 million CGTs, a slight growth from four-point-51 million CGTs in the same period last year.
 
China won the largest number of orders worth one-point-43 million CGTs. South Korea ranked second with one-point-23 million, followed by Italy, Finland and Japan.
 
The data was compiled by British maritime market analyst Clarksons Research.