With 2024 just kicking off, Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., Ltd.(HD KSOE) has already secured orders for 25 new vessels valued at $2.15 billion.
On January 9, 2024, Qatar’s Nakilat officially signed a contract with Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, a subsidiary of HD KSOE, for the construction of two types of six new vessels.
The six new vessels of two types include two 174,000 m3 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and four 88,000 m3 ultra-large liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)/liquid ammonia carriers, with a total order value of about $950 million, which are expected to be delivered between 2026 and 2027. Notably, this is the world’s first new order for large LNG carriers in 2024.
With the delivery of this series of vessels, Nakilat’s fleet of LNG carriers will reach 71 vessels and the fleet of LPG carriers will increase to 8 vessels.
Nakilat said the two types new vessels will feature the latest technology with energy-saving equipment as well as environmental-friendly and efficient propulsion systems, aiming to strengthen the company’s commitment to providing eco-solutions to the sustainable development of the shipping industry.
On the same day (January 9), HD KSOE announced that it had received an order for 15 MR product tankers with a total contract value of KRW 942.5 billion ( about $720 million) and a unit cost of $48 million. The new vessels will be built by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, a shipbuilding subsidiary of HD KSOE. The series of vessels, which are 183 meters in length and 32.2 meters in width, are expected to be delivered by November 2026 sequentially.
This is the first order of 2024 for Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, which has set a target of US$3.1 billion for this year.
Although HD KSOE has yet to disclose the information about the shipowner, it is understood that the owner of the order for the 15 MR product tankers is Pertamina International Shipping (PIS), the shipping subsidiary of Pertamina, Indonesia’s national petroleum company. It was announced in the end of 2023 that PIS and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard were in final negotiations for the order, which was expected to be formally finalized in early January 2024.
On January 8, Hyundai Heavy Industries Ulsan Shipyard took an order for two 88,000 m3 VLACs valued at about 317.3 billion won (about $240 million) from Turkey’s shipowner PascoGas, which are expected to be delivered one after the other by March 2027. This is the world’s first VLAC order in 2024.
On January 5, HD KSOE announced that it has signed a contract for the construction of two 88,000 m3 VLGCs with Solvang, a Norwegian natural gas shipowner, with an order value of KRW 303.2 billion ( about US$2.31). The new vessels are being built at Ulsan Shipyard and are expected to be delivered sequentially in the first half of 2027, and the order increases Solvang’s VLGC order book at Hyundai Heavy Industries to seven vessels.
For 2024, HD KSOE has set a more conservative order target of $13.5 billion and will continue to focus on high value-added vessels. Within a few days, the shipbuilding giant has already achieved 16% of its full-year order target.