The order backlog held by Korea's top three shipbuilders has dropped 18.6 percent over the past two years amid an industrywide slump in the global shipbuilding segment, data showed Tuesday.

According to the data compiled by Hana Institute of Finance, the value of the combined order backlog by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering stood at $96 billion as of end-March, compared with $118 billion at the end of 2013.

Daewoo Shipbuilding held the largest order backlog worth $36.8 billion at the end of March, followed by Samsung Heavy with $30 billion and Hyundai Heavy with $29 billion, the data showed.

The problem is that local shipyards are unlikely to win massive new orders down the road, which would further reduce their order backlog.

Local shipyards' new orders plunged sharply, with 170,000 compensated gross tons (CGTs) worth of orders clinched by them in the January-March period, down 94.1 percent on-year. In terms of value, their orders also dropped 94 percent on-year to $390 million over the cited period, according to separate data from the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank).

As of end-April, their order backlog totaled 27.59 million CGTs, down 16.2 percent from a year earlier and 11.1 percent from the end of last year, the policy lender said. "Given various conditions, the order backlog is estimated to keep them busy for less than 2 years," it said.

The shipbuilding industry, once regarded as the backbone of the country's economic growth and job creation, has been reeling from mounting losses caused by an industrywide slump and increased costs.

The big three shipyards racked up a combined net loss of 7.7 trillion won last year, marking the first time that all three of the nation's largest industry players registered losses. (Yonhap)