In the context that global shipbuilding market in 2003 continued to climb, shipyards in Japan and South Korea,the two largest world shipbuilding nations today, achieved a better performance in 2003 than in 2002. The twocountries have set out and implemented a number of industry policies and measures based on the development ofthe world shipbuilding industry and the current status of shipyards in both countries. In addition, both nations haveattached more importance to investment in technologies and development of new products. On the other hand,shipyards in Europe are still in difficulties and many shipbuilding firms have already shifted their focus onto militaryships and high value-added ships. For this, European countries have also set out policies to subsidize the industry.
