Majors Shake Hands

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI) is the world’s largest shipbuilding company, headquartered in Ulsan, South Korea. It has seven business divisions: Shipbuilding, Offshore & Engineering, Industrial Plant & Engineering, Engine & Machinery, Electro & Electric Systems, Construction Equipment, and Green Energy

News ID: 74406

Date: 10 June 2017 - 13:31

Hyundai Heavy Industries operates 10 drydocks equipped with 9 Goliath cranes and cutting-edge construction facilities in Ulsan and Gunsan. Each drydock and facility is specially designed to build ships the most efficiently for that ship type: Drydock No.1 is mainly assigned for drillships; Drydock No.3, with a capacity of 1 million DWT, can build containerships and tankers at the same time; Drydocks 6 and 7 build naval ships and special purpose vessels; and Drydock No. 8 is for LNG ships. The Gunsan Shipyard, built in 2009, features a 1.3 million DWT drydock, a 1,650 ton Goliath crane and state-of-the-art production facilities, in which 20 ships can be built annually.1 Over the past 44 years of operation, HHI has delivered more than 1,961 ships, an aggregate of over 186 million dwt, to 298 ship owners from 50 count As read in the news, IRISL placed order of 10 ships to renovate its fleet and retake its share in international market in post- JCPOA. The following is an interview with Mr. Yeo, the vice president in Hyundai’s ship/offshore division about the outlook of cooperating with IRISL and the plans forward.

1- What is Hyundai’s attitude toward working with Iranian shipping lines and how the cooperation will affect the development of relations between Iran and South Korea?

HHI Group’s Reply HHI Group and IRISL have long been a close business partners since 1996 with 42 vessels Newbuilding orders for HHI and HMD in UIsan. Especially, in December 2016, HHI Group and IRISL resumed newbuilding activities and concluded a deal of contracting six(6) MR Product/Chemical carriers and four(4) 14K TEU Containerships, which is surely the fruit of mutual trust and cooperation established by both companies. We believe this order will serve as an opportunity for both companies to foster closer relationships for years to come.

2- The contract between IRISL and Hyundai includes a note which reads about the technology transfer from Hyundai to Iran. How is it going to be accomplished by Hyundai?

HHI Group’s Reply Under the recent shipbuilding contracts signed between HHI Group and IRISL, both parties agreed to undertake cooperation mentioned below in general and details are under discussion. 1) Technical cooperation and assistance of Newbuilding at Iranian Shipyard If ships are to be built at an Iranian shipyard, HHI Group agreed to provide basic design of ships, material procurement and technical assistance. 2) On the job Training for Iranian Experts/ Apprentices HHI Group also plans to provide a series of training program for Iranian shipbuilding experts and trainees. 3) Iranian Industrial products, materials and services.

HHI Group agreed to investigate the possibility of using Iranian material for the current newbuilding project.

3- As you are aware of, there are some representatives from the liners to observe the process of shipbuilding. How is Hyundai going to cooperate with the representatives from IRISL?

HHI Group’s Reply Over the past 45 years, in a seamless cooperation with tens of thousands of supervisors dispatched by shipowners or classification societies, HHI Group has successfully delivered 3,000 plus quality ships on time for clients around the globe. Likewise, IRISL and HHI Group will successfully build the vessels with joint cooperation through sharing their thoughts and culture each other as done the same for the past newbuilding projects.