Korea''s shipbuilding industry succeeded in securing industry leadership by recording the world''s No. 1 volume of construction since the 2000s, but handed over its status to China in about a decade. Recently it has recovered its status as the No. 1 shipbuilding industry in terms of orders since 2018 as it ranked first in terms of high value-added ships such as Mega container, LNG carrier, and Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC).
Accordingly, this study demonstrated the high value-added shipbuilding orders of Korea''s shipbuilding industry and the limitations of China''s shipbuilding industry in terms of catch-up cycle theory. The study confirmed that the eco-friendly energy policy, the drop in LNG prices following the development of shale gas in the United States, the increase in LNG carrier demand due to the increase in LNG demand, and the increase in demand for Mega container/crude carrier to reduce transportation costs created a favorable business environment for the Korean shipbuilding industry.
In addition, a window of demand, policy, and technological opportunities was provided in response to the expansion of IMO''s regulations on exhaust gas and the expansion of natural gas fuel-propelled vessel demand .In response to this, the Korean shipbuilding industry is rapidly responding to the needs of the market, such as the merger of Hyundai and Daewoo, the development of advanced technology for LNG, securing competitiveness in technology for eco-friendly and high efficiency, and large-sized ships.
This study is of theoretical significance in that it added the latest demonstration of the Return of Old Leadership, which lacks empirical cases, among the phenomenon of industrial leadership transfer. It is also meaningful in that the revival of the Korean shipbuilding industry was systematically analyzed from the perspective of high value-added sectors, suggesting the need for re-examination of traditional major industries and detailed policy support.