South Korea maintained the top spot in global shipbuilding orders for the second straight month last month, industry data showed on July 9.

In June, local shipyards won orders totaling 340,000 compensated gross tons to build six ships, accounting for more than half of the orders placed around the globe, according to London-based Clarkson Research Services, the world’s leading provider of data for the shipping and shipbuilding industries.

Chinese shipbuilders bagged 240,000 CGTs in orders to build seven vessels, followed by Japan with five ships amounting to 90,000 CGTs.

In the first half of the year, Korean shipbuilders secured orders totaling 3.17 million CGTs in 69 vessels for a 31 percent market share, the data showed. China topped the list with 4.32 million CGTs, or 176 ships, for 42 percent of the market, the data showed.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)