Daweoo sees big drop in ship orders

   The South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said it expects new orders to drop 23 percent next year as shipping lines struggle with an oversupply of vessels and falling rates, according to a Bloomberg report over the weekend.
   Daewoo, the second largest shipbuilder in the world, said it has expects to book contracts worth $11 billion in 2012, a decline from $14.3 billion of orders received this year.
   The lion’s share of the order will come for offshore vessels, with the builder focusing on sectors outside of liner shipping because of perceived overcapacity in the market.
   “The commercial vessel market will be very difficult next year,” Daewoo Shipbuilding’s Chief Executive Officer Nam Sang Tae said in a statement to Bloomberg. “We are hoping things will look better in 2013.”