South Korean shipbuilders were overtaken by their Chinese rivals in the first half of the year, yielding their top position, industry data showed Friday.

Data showed they also lagged behind Japan in June.

South Korean shipyards clinched new orders for 164 ships totaling 5.55 million compensated gross tons (CGTs) in the January-June period, down 29.5 percent from 230 ships totaling 7.87 million CGTs a year ago, according to the data by global market researcher Clarkson Research Services.

During the same period, their share of global ship orders fell to 27.1 percent from 31.8 percent.

In contrast, Chinese shipbuilders won orders for 481 ships amounting to 9.09 million CGTs, increasing their share to 44.4 percent from 39.9 percent.

CGT, an indicator of the amount of work needed to build a given ship, is used as a tool to compare inter-country shipbuilding output. It is the generally used measure for the volume of orders received.

In terms of the value of new orders, Chinese shipbuilders took US$14.5 billion in new orders in the first half, outdoing $13.2 billion for South Korean competitors.

In June, South Korean shipbuilders dropped to third place after falling behind Japan, accounting for 16.6 percent of new global orders compared to Japanese rivals’ 25.9 percent. Chinese shipbuilders grabbed 47.7 percent to rank No. 1.

The data showed that global new orders for merchant ships tumbled 17.2 percent to 944 ships totaling 20.48 million CGTs in the first half, compared with 1,236 ships totaling 24.73 million CGTs a year earlier.

New monthly orders on the global market have been declining for six consecutive months since December when they reached 373 ships amounting to 7.94 million CGTs.

As of end June, global order backlogs posted 5,274 ships totaling 112.27 million CGTs, the lowest so far this year.