Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering Co. (KSOE), the nation's largest shipyard group, has won orders to build seven liquefied natural gas carriers at a time of increased competition from Chinese shipyards.
The company said the orders were worth a combined 1.56 trillion won ($1.35 billion) in value and come at a time when the Korean industry was been winning a larger portion of global orders for all kinds of ships.
KSOE is a holding company of three shipbuilders comprising Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Samho and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co.
With the latest LNG newbuilds, KSOE said it had obtained orders for 176 ships and two offshore plants worth the equivalent of $16.8Bln so far this year, exceeding its annual order target of almost $15.0Bln.
The Korean LNG carrier orders are a mix from both Asian and European shipowners and covered all three subsidiaries.
South Korea had re-taken the global No. 1 ranking for monthly orders in May 2021 after losing it to China in April 2021, nine months after retaking the leading position in global shipbuilding in July 2020.
During the first part of 2021, Korean shipbuilders also won orders for 31 ships to be propelled by LNG, taking up 46 percent of 67 LNG-powered ships ordered in the year to date.
The Korean yards are still favoured by Russia in its LNG shipping expansion.
A Russian newbuild ordered from Hyundai Heavy Industries will be the latest in a series of Sovcomflot’s next-generation conventional Atlanticmax LNG carriers, with three sister ships already in operation, the “SCF La Perouse”, the “SCF Barents” and the “SCF Timmerman”.
The newbuild will have capacity of 174,000 cubic metres and be owned and operated by Sovcomflot, with options for HHI to build two additional vessels.
The newest Korean-built Russian vessel would be fitted with an X-DF propulsion system, operated by a slow-speed diesel engine with a direct drive to the propellers, enabling a substantial reduction in the vessel’s fuel consumption.
