KSOE reaps a windfall with $262.5 million deal

South Korean shipbuilder Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) is resuming its winning streak in the new year having secured orders worth 288 billion won ($262.5 million).

The company’s subsidiary Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries has won an order for an LNG carrier worth 198.9 billion won from a shipping partner from Liberia. The 174,000 cbm LNG carrier is scheduled for delivery by August 2023.

Under the deal, the shipbuilder has options to build two more LNG carriers and an LPG carrier which could potentially push the order value to 450 billion won.

Separately, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard has bagged an order for the construction of a 40,000 cbm LPG tanker also slated for delivery in 2023.

Finally, Hyundai Mipo’s Vietnam-based subsidiary Hyundai Vietnam has been hired to build a 50,000-ton petrochemicals carrier (PC) for an unnamed owner from Asia. The vessel is expected to be delivered in the first half of 2022.

According to KSOE officials, the shipbuilder secured a major portion of last year’s orders in the LNG sector, 21 contracts from a total of 52 securing a top spot on the global shipbuilding scale.

Moving forward, KSOE is optimistic the trend would be kept this year as well.

The contracts are being announced just a week after KSOE obtained orders for a total of six 15,000 TEU containerships worth approximately $818.4 million.

The identity of the Asian-based shipowner behind the order was not disclosed.

The shipbuilder said that its subsidiary Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co. will build two vessels from the batch worth KRW 297 billion.

Its other subsidiary, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., will build four units from the series worth KRW 594 billion.

The vessels are slated for delivery in 2023, KSOE said.