HHI Reports Strong Recovery in New Orders
SOUTH KOREAN shipbuilding giant Hyundai Heavy Industry reported a considerable improvement in new contracts secured in the first quarter of 2017, with expectations that the industry has bottomed out.
According to MANA, Combined shipbuilding and offshore orders at the group level stood at $1.5bn, representing a 175.1% growth compared to the same period of last year, according to the company’s interim report on business performance.
Of those, new orders in HHI’s shipbuilding sector reached $763m in the first three months of 2017, compared to just $234m during the year-ago period,
Orders at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard surged almost tenfold to $480m, while that of Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries increased 89.1% to $244m.
Contracts for offshore and engineering units, however, declined 65.8% to just $51m.
Orders inked between January and March include the two very large crude carriers each for DHT Holdings and Enesel, one Floating Storage Regasification Unit for Kolin Construction, one 180,000 cu m liquefied natural gas carrier for Knutsen OAS Shipping, according to Clarksons.
In a separate investor relations document, HHI said it expects newbuilding orders to recover, shipbuilding overcapacity to be reduced and fresh tonnage prices to rise.