South Korean shipbuilders are expected to miss their annual order targets in 2019, due to the trade war between the US and China, as well as the worldwide economic slowdown, according to industry watchers.
Namely, as Yonhap news agency reports, South Korea’s top three shipyards, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, Samsung Heavy Industries Co. and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., have received an overall US$12.1 billion won worth of orders, during the first eight months of 2019. This marks a 21.3% reduction from the previous year.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
More specifically, Hyundai Heavy, along with its affiliates Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, have received orders of a total worth $4.9 billion during this period, decreasing 40.5% on-year. This amount falls far lower that the annual target of $15.9 billion won.
As for Daewoo Shipbuilding, it won $3 billion worth of orders this period, accounting for only 36% of its annual target of $8.3 billion, according to the data.
Regarding, Samsung Heavy Industries, it was the only company able to win more orders, in comparison to a year earlier at $4.2 billion. However, even this amount still accounts for about half of its annual target.
Currently, global ship orders amount for a total of 11.8 million compensated gross tons (CGTs) in the January-July period, falling by 43% from a year earlier, according to Clarkson Research Services Ltd.
