According to the Yonhap news agency, the Rapid Development and Enlightenment of China's Shipbuilding Industry recently released by the Korea Institute of Industry Research shows that China ranked first in the world in terms of the world market share of ship orders, construction and undelivered orders from 2012 to 2013. China's shipbuilding industry has caught up with and surpassed South Korea's and has gained a firm foothold in the international market, while the situation in South Korea's shipbuilding industry is not optimistic.
According to the report, taking 2013 as the benchmark, China's order volume, construction volume and outstanding order volume accounted for 35%, 30.7% and 33.5% of the world market respectively. However, South Korea accounted for 30.8% of orders, 29.7% of construction and 27.9% of outstanding orders. Korea Industry Research Institute pointed out that around 2010, China began to catch up with and surpass South Korea.
On the other hand, China also poses a threat to South Korea in the field of building offshore equipment such as drilling ships with added value. In 2013, South Korea's new order performance was 18.8 billion US dollars, lower than China's 24.5 billion US dollars. As far as the order performance in the first quarter of 2014 is concerned, China also defeated South Korea with US $5.6 billion.
In addition, China plans to enter the passenger ship construction market with the goal of becoming a powerful shipbuilding country. While carrying out structural adjustment, the Chinese government has also actively provided supportive policies. As of 2015, in order to support the replacement of old ships and eliminate the oversupply, China is promoting a variety of policies such as the purchase of small factories by large shipyards and expanding financial support for ships for export.
A research member of the Korea Industry Research Institute said that if China's shipbuilding industry completes large-scale structural adjustment, its quality may be greatly improved, which will greatly threaten the Korean shipbuilding industry, which is based on technology and quality and has price advantages.