South Korean shipbuilders regained the No. 1 ranking from their Chinese rivals in global new orders in October, bagging more than half of the global orders, industry data showed Tuesday.

Local shipbuilders led by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. won a combined 1.12 million compensated gross tons (CGTs) in new orders last month, taking up 52 percent of 2.13 million CGT global orders, according to data provided by global market researcher Clarkson Research Service.

Chinese shipbuilders, which ranked first in new orders in September, grabbed 810,000 CGTs, accounting for 38 percent of the total.

In the January-October period, new shipbuilding orders around the globe reached 40.99 million CGTs, up more than 2.5 times from 15.63 million CGTs a year ago, which hit the highest level since the same period of 2013 when they came to 46.98 million CGTs.

Global order backlogs stood at 89.03 million CGTs at the end of October.

South Korea's order backlog logged 28.82 million CGTs in October, up 360,000 CGTs from the previous month, with China's coming to 36.33 million CGTs, up 190,000 CGTs, and Japan's 9.44 million CGTs, down 330,000 CGTs.

Clarkson's Newbuilding Price Index, indicating price changes in newly built ships, rose to 152.28 points in September, up three points from the previous month.

The index topped 150 points for the first time in 12 years since September 2009.

The October index rose 20 percent compared with 127.11 points in January. (Yonhap)