South Korean shipbuilders took the top spot in new global shipbuilding orders in the third quarter of the year, beating their Chinese rivals, industry data showed Tuesday.

According to the data provided by global market researcher Clarkson Research Service, Korean shipbuilders' new orders came to 1.42 million compensated gross tons (CGTs), taking up 45 percent of the total orders amounting to 3.19 million CGTs in the July-September period.

The South Korean shipbuilders were followed by Russian shipbuilders with 860,000 CGTs, or 27 percent, and Chinese shipbuilders with 830,000 CGTs, or 26 percent, in the period.

Global new orders of ships tallied by global market researcher Clarkson Research Service reached 9.75 million CGTs in the January-September period, down 51 percent from 20.03 CGTs a year ago.

Chinese shipbuilders won 4.84 million CGTs in new orders, or 233 ships, accounting for 50 percent of the total new orders in the first nine months of the year.

They were trailed by South Korean shipbuilders with 2.62 million CGTs, or 81 ships, Russian shipbuilders with 930,000 CGTs, or 21 ships, and Japanese shipbuilders with 850,000 CGTs, or 57 ships.

Global order backlogs fell slightly by 1.77 million CGTs, or 3 percent, to 68.06 million CGTs at the end of September compared with the same period a month earlier.

Global order backlogs have been on a downward path this year since 80.82 million CGTs in January.

Chinese shipbuilders' order backlogs reached 24.65 million CGTs, or 36 percent of the total, followed by South Korean shipbuilders with 18.42 million CGTs and Japanese shipbuilders with 9.05 million CGTs. (Yonhap)