South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has won 18 ship orders worth USD 900 million in April alone, pushing its order intake to USD 2.3 billion secured so far this year.
Since the orders include options exercisable by owners to order additional vessels, the total orders in April “will amount to 31 ships worth USD 1.5 billion,” HHI informed.
The month marked the largest ship orders for the comparable period in three years, the shipbuilder said, adding that from the beginning of 2017 it secured a total of 39 new ship orders.
“With our new orders improving this year, we are receiving shipbuilding inquires doubled over the last year’s comparable period. With our competitive edge on green shipbuilding technology and fiscal health, we will continue to exert efforts to win more orders,” according to an official from HHI.
As the company is currently in the final negotiating stage for additional three ships, as well as two more vessels at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) and an array of other shipbuilding inquiries, HHI said that it expects more orders to come in May and afterwards.
During the period ended March 31, 2017, the value of HHI’s newbuilding orders surged by 22.9 percent compared to the corresponding figures from last year, reaching USD 2.04 billion.
While the group’s shipbuilding segment booked USD 763 million worth of orders, against last year’s 234 million, its offshore and engineering arm saw a drop in ordering activity with USD 51 million worth of orders.