South Korean shipyards maintained the No. 1 position in new orders worldwide in September, while their order backlog also rose for the first time in 23 months, industry data showed Wednesday.

According to the data compiled by global research firm Clarkson Research Institute, local shipbuilders clinched new orders equal to 1.46 million compensated gross tons last month to build a total of 26 vessels.

South Korean shipyards clinched deals last month to build 11 very large container vessels, 10 very large ore carriers and five very large crude carriers.

Chinese rivals came next with 890,000 CGTs, or 21 ships. Japanese shipyards bagged orders worth 260,000 CGTs, or 12 ships.

Last month, a total of 2.96 million CGT worth of deals, or 71 ships, were placed globally, marking it the largest month of the year for ship deals, the data showed.

In the first nine months of the year, China ranked first with new orders worth 5.09 million CGTs, or 217 vessels, followed by South Korea with 5.04 million CGTs, or 133 ships, and Japan with 1.47 million CGTs, or 76 ships.

During the cited period, accumulated new orders placed around the globe reached 15.93 million CGTs -- or 573 vessels -- compared with 9.79 million CGTs -- 438 ships -- a year earlier.

China was also the No. 1 country in terms of order backlog with 25.9 million CGTs, followed by South Korea and Japan with 16.65 million CGTs and 16.08 million CGTs, respectively, according to the data. (Yonhap)