HD Hyundai has set a record by building and delivering 5,000 ships over approximately 50 years. This marks the first time worldwide that a single shipbuilding group has delivered 5,000 vessels.

HD Hyundai announced on Nov. 19 that it held a commemorative event for the delivery of 5,000 ships at the headquarters of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering in Dong-gu, Ulsan. The 5,000th ship delivered by HD Hyundai is the Diego Silang, the second patrol vessel for the Philippines. The Diego Silang is a state-of-the-art warship measuring 118.4m in length, 14.9m in width, with a cruising speed of 28km/h (15 knots). HD Hyundai received an order for 10 warships from the Philippine Navy in January 2022 and delivered the Diego Silang to the Philippine Navy last month.

The Diego Silang, the second patrol vessel for the Philippines, is the 5,000th ship delivered by HD Hyundai. (Photo courtesy of HD Hyundai)
With the delivery of the Diego Silang, HD Hyundai completed the construction and delivery of its 5,000th ship since its founding. This milestone comes exactly 51 years after the company was established as Hyundai Heavy Industries (now HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering) in 1972 and delivered the 260,000-ton tanker Atlantic Baron to a Greek shipowner in 1974. During this period, ships have been delivered to approximately 700 shipowners in 68 countries. Specifically, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering delivered 2,631 ships, HD Hyundai Mipo delivered 1,570 ships, and HD Hyundai Samho delivered 799 ships.

An HD Hyundai official stated, “This is a remarkable record that has not been achieved even by Europe and Japan, which have much longer shipbuilding histories than our country,” explaining that “assuming a ship length of 250m, the total length of 5,000 ships would be 1,250km.” This distance is longer than the straight-line distance from Seoul to Tokyo, Japan (1,150km).

HD Hyundai Chairman Chung Ki-sun said, “5,000 ships represent the pride of Korea’s shipbuilding industry and a history of challenges that changed the paradigm of the global maritime industry. Based on this history of challenges we created together, we will move forward vigorously toward the next 5,000 ships and another half-century.”

The event was attended by Chairman Chung, along with National Assembly members Kim Tae-sun (Ulsan Dong-gu) and Yoon Jong-oh (Ulsan Buk-gu), Park Dong-il, director at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, Ahn Byung-gil, president of Korea Maritime Promotion Corp., and Park Jung-seok, chairman of Korea Line Corp.

Meanwhile, HD Hyundai decided to provide 300,000 won gift certificates to employees of shipbuilding affiliates and subcontractor workers to commemorate the delivery of 5,000 ships.

Source:Business Korea