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WORLD SHIPBUILDING AND REPAIR UPDATE The double hull tanker "Diana" was built by Sanoyas Hishino Meisho Corp. of Japan and is owned by the San Martin Shipping Corporation of Liberia. WORLD SHIPBUILDING REPORT Orders For Replacement Tonnage Remain Steady; Demand For New Ships Expected To Increase At End Of Decade By John R. Snyder With tanker tonnage account-ing for almost 50 percent of the total, the world ship- building order book, as of June 1992, reached 41.4 million gt, eclipsing last year's mark of 39.6 million gt set duringthe same period. Of the 2,410 ships in the world order book, there are 1,349 steam and motor ships with a gross tonnage of 17,726,092 under construction, a jump of more than 700,000 gt over the previous quarter. There were 1,061 ships on order, not yet commenced, with a total gt of 23,682,502. Although ship deliveries were down from last year at this time (834 to 770), tonnage production is up 18 percent, from 8,113,935 gt to 9,603,085 gt, reflecting the large amount of VLCC tonnage on order. Japanese builders retained their grip on the top spot, with an order book of470 ships totaling 14.69 mil- lion gt—a 35.48 percent market share. Far East rival South Korea, recovering from labor difficulties, rebounded with a 19.53 percent market share, with 142 ships of 8.09 million gt on order or under con- struction. Surprising Denmark slipped past the People's Republic of China, Romania, Taiwan and Germany into third place. The Dan- ish order book consists of 59 ships under construction and on order of 2.11 million gt for a 5.09 percent market share. In the U.S., most of the ship- building activity in 1992 centered around ongoing Navy ship construc- tion programs. On the commercial side, U.S. shipyards delivered four oceango- ing merchant vessels—two 401-foot molten sulfur tankers, one 714-foot boxship and one 308-foot icebreaking research vessel. Cur- rently, there is one 524-foot molten sulfur tanker on order. Builder Leading Shipbuilding Nations (gross tonnage in thousands) Under Construction On Order Total GT Japan 6088.42 8604.28 14692.70 S. Korea 2759.76 5327.62 8087.37 Denmark 205.08 1901.55 2106.63 China 634.28 1346.37 1980.64 Romania 1081.88 485.51 1567.39 Germany 878.43 606.74 1485.18 Taiwan 403.90 1034.80 1438.70 Croatia 616.89 566.73 1183.63 Italy 862.43 290.99 1153.42 Brazil 722.33 401.15 1123.48 Source: Lloyd's Register December, 1992 51
