HD KSOE announced on October 26 that it signed a contract with Qatar Energy for the construction of 17 174,000 m3 LNG carriers, with an order value of about 5.2511 trillion won (about $3.9 billion / RMB 28.5 billion), and a single-vessel cost of about $230 million, which is about 13.6% lower than the latest shipbuilding price announced by Clarkson ($265 million). 13.6%.
The 299-meter-long, 46.4-meter-wide and 26.5-meter-high vessels will be built at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Ulsan Shipyard and are scheduled to be delivered sequentially to their owners in the second half of 2029. The project is the largest single contract order in the Korean shipbuilding industry to date, setting a new record for Samsung Heavy Industries’ order for 16 6,000 TEU methanol dual-fuel-powered containerships valued at KRW 3.95 trillion (about US$3.13 billion at the time), which was set on July 17th.
In September, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries signed a MOA with Qatar Energy for 17 LNG carriers, marking a substantial progress in the second phase of Qatar’s “Hundred Ships Program” by becoming the first Korean shipbuilder to sign an order for the second phase of the program. The second phase of the “100 Ships Program” has made substantial progress. It is expected that other shipbuilding enterprises such as Hanwha Marine and Samsung Heavy Industries will also sign orders one after another. According to previous reports, after finalizing the Korean shipyard, Qatar Energy will also discuss the second phase of orders with one or two Chinese shipyards. Sources said CSSC Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding is expected to take on 6 to 8 ships in the second phase.
So far, HD KSOE has taken orders for 141 new vessels valued at US$20.2 billion, which is 127.2% of the annual order target of US$15.74 billion. In terms of LNG carriers, HD KSOE has been leading the way with 37 LNG carriers this year. Previously, the shipbuilder had set a record for the highest market share of LNG carriers with 21, 25 and 45 orders in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively.
It is learned that Qatar’s “hundred ship program” second phase is expected to Samsung Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, three South Korean shipbuilding enterprises to order 40 LNG carriers. Korean media earlier speculated that Samsung Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in the second phase of the Qatar Energy order size of 16, 14, 10 respectively. But presently HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has taken orders for 17 ships, 7 more than the predicted number.
The South Korean shipbuilding industry is very concerned about the size of Hanwha Ocean and Samsung Heavy Industries’ future final orders. Considering the order booked of Chinese shipbuilders, Hanwha Ocean and Samsung Heavy Industries may not be able to fulfill their initial order intake targets. However, others believe that Qatar Energy may increase its orders for LNG carriers and that it is too early to draw any conclusions. It is reported that when signing the MOA with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Qatar Energy announced that it would soon sign more contracts with Korean shipbuilders such as Hanwha Ocean and Samsung Heavy Industries, and that the size of the second batch of orders could be “40+alpha”, instead of just the original 40 ships.