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South Korean yards see shipbuilding market improving as new orders rise

South Korean yards see shipbuilding market improving as new orders rise
Ailing South Korean shipbuilders going through a rough patch of debt restructuring are slowly getting back on their feet, as they recorded a rise in new orders in the first half of the year and are expecting more new contracts for the second half, reports said.

The country’s largest shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), and its affiliate yards, have secured new orders worth a combined $4.2bn for 72 ships in the first six months, representing a significant increase from $1bn for 13 ships in the year-ago period, local media Yonhap reported.

The $4.2bn orderbook is already more than 50% of HHI’s annual order target of $7.5bn for 2017.

In the same January to June period, Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) landed $4.8bn worth of orders for 13 ships, including two offshore plants. SHI is aiming to achieve $6.5bn in orderbook value for this year.

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) clinched $770 worth of new orders for seven ships in the first half.

The big three Korean yards’ combined orderbook for the first half amounted to $9.77bn.

The three Korean yards are also looking forward to a further boost to their orderbook for the second half, with HHI set to sign deals valued at approximately $2.7bn, SHI likely to win a $1.5bn deal to build 12 articulated tug barges, and DSME last week landed a new order to build four VLCCs with the value yet to be disclosed.