S. Korean shipbuilders may raise ship prices

South Korea’s seven shipbuilders, makers of 38 percent of vessels delivered globally in 2005, said they may raise prices to take advantage of record orders and protect their profits from increasing steel costs. Carriers of containers, oil and minerals may cost about 5 percent more this year, said Kang Soo Hyun, chief executive of Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., a unit of the world’s biggest shipbuilder, at a June 8 interview in Athens. Higher prices protect shipbuilders’ earnings from the Korean won’s gains against the U.S. dollar and shield them from steel costs that have risen 70 percent since 2003.