South Korean shipbuilders secured 90 percent of all global ship orders in the month of February.

According to the data compiled by industry tracker Clarkson Research Institute, local shipyards in February garnered new orders to build eight ships totaling 630-thousand compensated gross tons(CGT).

This accounts for 90 percent of last month's worldwide orders of 700-thousand CGTs to build 15 ships.

China which ranked top in January came in second with 20-thousand CGTs to build one vessel. Japanese shipbuilders trailed at third with ten-thousand CGTs for one ship.

For the first two months of the year, China is in the lead with orders totaling one-point-24 million CGTs, taking up 41 percent of the total.

South Korea follows with one-point-21 million CGTs accounting for 40 percent of the global total.

South Korea was followed by Italy and Japan each commanding eight percent of the global share. 

In terms of order backlogs, China ranks first with over 29 million CGTs for a 36 percent share, followed by South Korea with 21-point-75 million and Japan 14-point-five million.

In 2018, Korea outpaced China and ranked number one in annual orders for the first time in seven years.