For the first time in nearly two decades Japanese shipbuilders have overtaken rivals in South Korea in terms of newbuild order backlog, industry data shows. According to Clarskon Research data released Wednesday, in December 2016 Japan had a backlog of 20.64 million compensated gross tonnes (CGT), surpassing South Korea’s backlog of 19.91 CGT. China is still world’s largest shipbuilding nation with roughly 30 million CGT. Compared to the same time the previous year, South Kor