Daewoo, Samsung bag $2.3 bn LNG ship order

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. secured LNG ship orders worth a combined 3.2 trillion won ($2.3 billion) this week, both companies said on Tuesday.

Daewoo, the world’s second-largest shipyard, signed a 2 trillion won ($1.5 billion) contract to build seven liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers. That brought its orders received this year to $8.2 billion, or 92% of its full-year target.

The South Korean shipbuilder didn’t identify the shipper that placed the order. But industry insiders believe the contract is related to Qatar’s large-scale LNG projects. The vessels will be delivered by February 2026.

Including the latest contract, Daewoo’s order backlogs ballooned to 36 ships, including 28 LNG carriers and six container ships. 

Separately, Samsung Heavy Industries Co. recently obtained a 1.2 trillion won order to build four LNG carriers. Two of them each will be delivered to shippers based in the Bermudas and Africa by September 2025.

This year, the world’s No. 3 shipbuilder, received 37 ship orders in aggregate, including 28 LNG carriers and nine container ships. They represent $7.2 billion, or 82% of its 2022 target.

The orders came after Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world's largest shipbuilder, inked a 1.96 trillion contract to build seven LNG carriers last month.

With heavy backlogs, Korean shipyards are shifting toward high-value vessels such as LNG carriers and solidified their top positions in the market.

They swept all eight LNG ship orders placed worldwide in August and took a 75% share of the LNG ship market from January to August this year.

The price of 174,000-cubic-meter LNG carriers crawled up to $240 million on average as of end-August from $236 million in July, according to Clarkson Research.

The softening won has boosted their price competitiveness. On Tuesday, the local currency briefly hit 1,377 to the dollar, its weakest level in almost 13 and a half years. It closed domestic trade at 1,371.7 per the greenback.

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article