Korea's big three yards continue to haul in mega-orders

Seoul: South Korea's two largest shipyard groups have each won hefty new contracts - meaning that all of the country's Big Three yard groups have now breached the $10bn mark for new orders booked this year.

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) announces it has just landed orders worth $430m, for one Taiwanese LNG carrier and two lpg tankers for Brave Maritime Corp of Greece, all to deliver in 2010. The contracts take the total of orders won this year to $10.2bn, past the group's 2006 target of $10bn - which has now been increased to $12bn, almost twice 2005's total of $6.8bn.

Last week Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) also broke the $10bn barrier, winning a $1.6bn contract from the Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company subsidiary of Abu Dhabi oil major ADNOC to build three fixed platforms for the Um Shaif oil and gas project, believed to be the world's largest ever single offshore construction award. A company spokesman called it 'a bridgehead for future large projects in the Middle East.' It took HHI orders for the year to date in the fields of shipbuilding, offshore & engineering and industrial plant & engineering to $11bn, exceeding the annual target of $10.8bn. 

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) was the first Korean yard group to reach the $10bn mark this year, doing so in late August with an order for five 10,000teu containerships from Hanjin Shipping. The tally was a new annual record for the group, which promptly raised its 2006 target, originally set at $7.7bn, to $12bn. 

The booking of expensive ships such as ultra large containerships and LNG carriers has been a prime reason for this year's inflated order values. [02/10/06]