South Korea has confirmed its resurgence as the world's leader in shipbuilding for the first time in seven years. 

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Thursday announced the final estimation of the country’s performance in the shipbuilding industry last year based on data from British research firm Clarkson Research Services. 

It said South Korea won combined orders of 12-point-63 million compensated gross tonnage(CGT) or 44-point-two percent of total ship orders placed globally in 2018. It is the highest-ever market share the country has logged, breaking its previous record of 40-point-three percent set in 2011. 

The country particularly dominated in the field of high-valued ships, winning orders to build 66 out of 70 liquefied natural gas(LNG) carriers and 34 out of 39 Very Large Crude Carriers(VLCC). 

The number of employees in the local shipbuilding industry also began to rise last September and has grown by two-thousand-700 as of the end of last year to 107-thousand. 

Clarkson projected global ship orders will further increase ten percent this year from last year.