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A hat embroidered with the slogan “Make America[n] Shipbuilding Great Again” revealed by South Korea’s presidential office on Aug. 3, 2025, during negotiations with the US over tariffs. (Yonhap)

While ship orders are declining worldwide, South Korea has seen its share of orders slightly increase. All eyes are focused on whether the “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again” project, proposed during recent US-South Korea tariff negotiations, will drive the joint growth of the shipbuilding industries in the US and South Korea.
 
Clarksons Research, a British shipbuilding and shipping analytics organization, released data on Wednesday showing that global ship orders from January to July in 2025 totaled 23.26 CGT (compensated gross tonnage, 788 ships), a 51.2% decrease from the same period in 2024 (47.65 million CGT, 1,973 ships).
 
Ship orders had been on a downward trend since reaching 38.97 million CGT (1,543 ships) globally in the first seven months of 2021, before peaking at 47.65 million CGT (1,973 ships) in the same period in 2024.
 
The shipbuilding industry attributes the larger-than-expected decline to the base effect from the boom in 2024, claiming that the industry is in line with market cycles by entering a period of stabilization following a four-year boom.
 
Some argue that, even with such conditions taken into consideration, the decline in orders is greater than anticipated. 

“The shipbuilding industry is intrinsically connected to the shipping industry, as shipping companies must make money before they can order ships,” commented Lee Eun-chang, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade. “The tariff war has increased the volatility of shipping rates and expanded uncertainty, causing shipping companies to become hesitant to place new orders.”
 
Despite the sluggish international market, South Korea’s share of orders has increased. South Korea, which received orders for 8.25 million CGT (186 ships, 17%) from January to July of 2024, received orders for 5.24 million CGT (123 ships, 23%) in the same period in 2025, increasing its share of global orders by 6 percentage points.

During the same period, China saw orders fall from 31.73 million CGT (1,331 ships, 67%) to 13.03 million CGT (463 ships, 56%). The shift is attributed to a growing number of shipping companies assessing that they could face difficulties entering US ports with Chinese ships as Washington moves to check China’s shipbuilding industry.  

Korea’s shipbuilding industry is keeping a keen eye on what the recently announced “MASGA” project will look like in practice. If the Merchant Marine Allies Partnership Act, a bill introduced on Aug. 1, is passed by Congress, it would allow marine vessels constructed in allied nations such as Korea to operate in domestic shipping routes, and would exempt the import duty of 50% on major vessel modifications if the work is done at shipyards of allied countries like Korea and Japan. 

Amid such talk, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Joseph Yun, the chargé d’affaires at the US Embassy, paid a visit to HD Hyundai’s shipyard in Ulsan to inspect the facilities. The two diplomats reaffirmed that South Korea is the “optimal partner” for the US in revitalizing its shipbuilding industry, and agreed to explore further avenues of cooperation on shipbuilding between their countries.  

By Lee Jae-ho, staff reporter; Park Min-hee, senior staff writer

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