South Korea’s largest shipbuilding groups—HD Hyundai, Hanwha Ocean, and Samsung Heavy Industries—are closing out 2025 with order books that held up better than the broader market, helping the country move back into the low-20% range (about 22%) of global newbuilding demand even as worldwide contracting fell sharply.
Industry data compiled by Clarkson Research shows global orders of about 44.99 million CGT (1,627 vessels) from January to November 2025, down 37% year-on-year. In that period, South Korea booked around 10.03 million CGT (223 vessels)—roughly a 22% share—while China secured about 26.64 million CGT, despite a steeper year-on-year decline.
Company by company, the year has been defined less by chasing volume and more by pricing discipline. Hanwha Ocean’s disclosed order intake reached $9.83 billion for 51 vessels, including 20 VLCCs and 13 LNG carriers, exceeding its 2024 total, according to multiple Korean business reports.
For HD Hyundai, industry reporting said HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE)—the intermediate holding company for the group’s shipbuilding units—secured $18.2 billion in orders for 129 vessels in 2025 to date, meeting 100.6% of its annual target of $18.1 billion. Korean coverage linked the year-on-year decline in total order value to a more selective contracting stance and already-committed dock capacity.
Samsung Heavy Industries reported $7.4 billion in orders for 2025 so far, spanning LNG carriers, shuttle tankers, and other merchant segments, against an annual target of $9.8 billion, Korean business outlets reported in late December.
The stronger showing comes after a weak 2024 share outcome: Korean outlets citing Clarkson data described last year’s domestic share at 17%, the lowest since 2016, before the 2025 rebound toward the low-20% range.
Geopolitics has also become part of the commercial backdrop. Korean media and industry observers have pointed to policy uncertainty around the U.S. Trade Representative’s Section 301 process targeting China’s maritime and shipbuilding sectors—including proposals and announcements related to port-fee frameworks affecting China-linked and Chinese-built tonnage—as a factor that may be influencing shipowner sentiment.
