The embattled big three South Korean shipyards struggling to stay afloat amid the shipbuilding downturn are starting to see positive signs as they clinched new orders worth a combined $9.37bn in the first five months of this year.
The big three Korean yards – Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) – are all going through painful restructurings involving massive job cuts.
HHI announced earlier that in the first five months of 2017, the group has landed orders to build 62 ships valued at $3.8bn, which is equivalent to around 51% of its annual target of $7.5bn.
SHI won deals worth a total of $4.8bn this year up until end-May, including a $2.5bn contract to build a floating LNG facility by June 2022 for use in the Coral South Porject off the coast of Mozambique. The $4.8bn deals accounted for 74% of the group’s annual target of $6.5bn.
SHI’s latest performance is a complete turnaround compared to the same period of last year, when it failed to win a single order.
DSME clinched deals worth around $770m from January to May 2017, falling behind its local rivals. The value of this year’s new orders, however, rose significantly from the $130m recorded in the year-ago period. The group aims to secure deals worth $5.5bn this year.
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