S. Korea's shipbuilding orders hit record high

Orders received by South Korea's shipbuilders totaled 12.4 billion U.S. dollars in the third quarter of this year, a government report said Wednesday.

This represented a 106.4 percent gain as measured in dollars, and a 142.5 percent surge in actual shipbuilding orders compared to the same period in 2005, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said.

In the July-Sept. period, South Korean shipyards clinched orders for 152 ships amounting to 5.97 million compensated gross tons (CGT).

The ministry said at the companies presently have a combined order backlog of 42.90 million tons worth 90.3 billion U.S. dollars, enough to keep them busy for the next 3.6 years.

Source: Xinhua