Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering recently signed a 314.5 billion won contract to supply one LNG carrier to an Oceanian shipowner. It is the company’s first contract this year and the ship is scheduled to be delivered in the first quarter of 2027.

This year, the three major South Korean shipbuilders are planning to raise their ratios of more expensive and lucrative contracts such as LNG carrier contracts. Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering’s goal for this year is US$15.7 billion and those of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Samsung Heavy Industries are US$6.98 billion and US$9.5 billion, respectively.

In Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering and Samsung Heavy Industries, the rate of progress already topped 20 percent. Early last month, Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering signed three LNG carrier contracts (971.4 billion won in total) with an Oceanian ship owner and 12 container carrier contracts (2.5264 trillion won in total) in Europe. Its current progress is 24 ships adding up to US$3.77 billion.

Samsung Heavy Industries signed two LNG carrier contracts (609.7 billion won) and one floating LNG facility contract last month. Its current progress is US$2 billion.

The three companies’ plan to become more selective is because their order backlogs are already as long as over three years. According to experts, the plan is expected to lead to a higher level of profitability and the three companies are expected to turn black this year based on it.

Source: BusinessKorea