South Korean shipyards have set higher order goals for 2018, in line with expectations for an overall improvement in the shipbuilding sector, according to industry sources as cited by Yonhap news agency.
Namely, sources say Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., South Korea’s largest shipbuilder, is targeting new orders of USD 13.2 billion worth within 2018, up 76% from last year’s USD 7.5 billion. Exceeding ambitions, 2017 closed with USD 10 billion orders.
The company bagged USD 21.2 billion in 2013, USD 10.7 billion in 2014 and USD 12.4 billion in 2015, Yonhap reports.
On its turn, Samsung Heavy Industries Co. has set aims to secure USD 7.7 billion worth of orders this year, up 18% from 2017’s USD 6.5 billion. The shipbuilding company also finished the year with higher-than-expected orders estimated at USD 6.9 billion.
Further, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering’s target for next year is to exceed USD 5 billion. This year, it bagged $2 billion in new orders.
Despite these, the country’s shipbuilding industry is hit by a decrease in new orders in the last years, as a result from global economic downturn and Chinese competition. In 2017, Hyundai Heavy decided to impose rotational leave scheme for its workers, to tackle the problem of idle workforce, while more recently, it revealed plans to sell USD 1.22 billion new stocks to improve financial situation. In the meantime, Samsung Heavy and Daewoo have mid-completed their self-rescue plans.
