Kawasaki chooses Korea

Having lately been displaced from their position as the world?s leading shipbuilders by Korea, Japanese shipyards received another major blow in December when Kawasaki of Japan decided to order five 5,600 TEU post-panamax container ships not from a Japanese yard, but from Hyundai Heavy Industries in Korea.

The order ? for which the low price of newbuildings in Korea was undoubtedly a factor ? is believed to be the first time a Japanese liner owner has gone to a Korean yard.

Korean yards are known to have been targeting the market for container ships, a fact identified recently in the European Commission report on the crisis in the worldwide shipbuilding market, and Korea?s share of the market for container ship tonnage has increased as prices have fallen.

Orders for post-panamax container ships continue at a high level, with brokers quoting a requirement for as many as 40 such newbuildings. The same yard has also recently benefited from an order for similar size post-panamax container ships from shipowner Yangming in Taiwan, which has ordered two more 5,500 TEU vessels for delivery in the first quarter and second quarter of 2001, respectively.