New vessel orders, won by local shipbuilders, totaled 4.49 million compensated gross tonnage (CGT) in the January-March quarter, up 32.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
It was lower than China's shipbuilding orders that amounted to 4.90 million CGT in the first quarter.
The double-digit increase was attributed to a strong demand for high value-added, eco-friendly ships such as liquified natural gas (LNG) and ammonia carriers, the ministry noted.
In terms of value, the South Korea-won shipbuilding orders jumped 41.4 percent from a year earlier to 13.6 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter, accounting for 44.7 percent of the global total.
It marked the world's largest in value terms.
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