shipbuilding: Korea and China

choi

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(1) This article will give you an bird's-eye view of the shipbuilding industry.

Struggling shipbuilders |  Hard yards; Europe’s shipbuilders may break out of the doldrums before Asia’s. Economist, Apr. 29, 2010.
http://www.economist.com/business-finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16010432

Note:
(i) bubbly (n): "CHAMPAGNE"
(ii) Odense
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odense
(third largest city in Denmark; "Denmark's largest shipyard, Odense Steel Shipyard owned by the A.P. Møller-Mærsk Group is situated in the neighbouring town Munkebo.")
(iii) hole (vt): "to make a hole in"

(2) An overview from another perspective:

Shipbuilding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipbuilding

Quote:

"However, great advances [in shipbuilding] were happening outside Medieval Europe. The shipbuilding industry in Imperial China reached its height during the Sung Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, and early Ming Dynasty. During the Sung period (960–1279 AD), the establishment of China's first official standing navy in 1132 AD and the enormous increase in maritime trade abroad (from Heian Japan [平安時代, 794-1185 AD] to Fatimid Egypt) allowed the shipbuilding industry in provinces like Fujian to thrive like never before. Some of the largest seaports in the world existed in China during this era, including Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Xiamen.

"the world's largest shipyard [is] in Ulsan [蔚山], operated by Hyundai Heavy Industries * * * South Korea's 'big three' shipbuilders, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, dominate global shipbuilding, with STX Shipbuilding, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, Hanjin Heavy Industries, and Sungdong Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering also ranking among the top ten shipbuilders in the world.[9] In 2007, STX Shipbuilding further strengthened South Korea's dominant position in the industry by acquiring Aker Yards, the largest shipbuilding group in Europe.

Note:
(a) Reference 9 is

7 Korean Shipbuilders Rank in Top 10. Korea Times, Jan. 3, 2006.

(b) But the Wikipedia ranking--see quotation 2 above--is the updated version (and in decreasing order), as Sunddong and STX made acquisitions in 2007.

(3) News reports in chronological order:
(a) China set to become world's largest shipbuilding country. People's Daily, Nov. 10, 2009.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90778/90860/6809292.html

(b) Korea Dominates Shipbuilding Market in Q1. Chosun Ilbo, Apr. 16, 2010.
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/04/16/2010041601060.html

My comment:
(a) For a single month in 2009, China barely overtook S Korea in shipbuilding order. But the latter came back. Although (b) did not state who make the orders, it was clear that new order in Q1 2010 was for mainly for bulk cargo ship, not containers (many of which have been idled near Singapore and elsewhere). See (4).
(b) There were glut of cargo ships in the Great Recession of 2008-2009. What keeps China shipbuilding going? Who are its customers anyway? (Though none of the news reports have identified the clients, I suspect China's are its own merchant marine, most of which are state-owned.)

The following analysis answered my first question, pointing to the central planning/non-market oriented way in China.

China's Shipbuilding Glut. Asia Sentinel, Oct. 1, 2009.
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2080&Itemid=422

Note: I do ot know what "pour out bottoms" mean.

(4) Shai Oster, Coal Prices Heat Up in China; The Country, an Exporter for Decades, Now Imports; Suppliers Try to Keep Up. Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2010.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703612804575222212477812190.html

My comment: You need not read the report. Unfortunately, the online version does ot have a graphic that appears in the print, and that shows China's coal export has decreased sharply over the years while coal import, increased sharply.

That is bulk cargo ships are for--moving commodities to China. (Containers will take out finished products out of China but China's export has dipped.)

(5) Finally, I want to remind you
(a) Taiwan's shipbuilding, while small, was profitable and with back orders in 2009.
(b) Taiwan's merchant marine is always conservative. (After all, who wants to take risk with their own money? This is the difference between a capitalist society which Taiwan is and a socialist society where China's remains stuck in.)

Compare
(i) Robert Wright and Robin Kwong, Evergreen to order 100 new container ships. Financial Times, Apr. 14, 2010.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3f3b9768-475d-11df-b253-00144feab49a.html

Note; One has to register in order to read it.

(ii) Evergreen Marine founder steers to a safe channel; Behind Chang Yung-Fa, chairman and founder of Taiwan's Evergreen Marine Corporation, as he greets visitors in his Taipei office, are multiple pictures of himself. June 9, 2008.
http://gulfnews.com/business/shipping/evergreen-marine-founder-steers-to-a-safe-channel-1.118078

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