After suffering briefly from the worldwide recession, experts have expressed optimism that the Korean shipbuilding industry will soar again in the New Year.
According to forecasts, local shipbuilders will have a better year this year than last and secure an advantageous position in the international shipbuilding market.
Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME) announced on January 4 that a total of nine ships from Daewoo were selected as the best ships of 2010 by overseas magazines.
Two U.K.-based monthly magazines, Naval Architect and Fairplay Solution, picked three ships built by Daewoo as the best ships of the year, while two U.S.-based monthlies, Marine Log and Maritime Reporter, picked three Daewoo ships each as the top ships of 2010. Every year, these leading magazines in shipbuilding and engineering select the best ships of the year.
Daewoos ships received worldwide recognition, with industry magazines praising four of their container ships and three of their oil tankers.
Hyundai Heavy Industries successfully won a contract to build a high-priced drillship for their first order in 2011. Hyundai announced on Jan. 4 that it clinched the deal with U.S.-based Diamond Offshore Drilling, a Houston-based oil and gas drilling firm, to build a US$590 million deepwater drillship.
Unlike the existing drillships that can only work up to three kilometers down, this vessel is designed to carry out drilling operations as deep as 3.6 kilometers underwater, Hyundai said.
On the same day, Koreas Hanjin Heavy Industries held a naming ceremony for its 180,000-ton bulk carrier, the Christina Bulker, at Yeongdo Dockyard in Busan. The company hopes the ship will play a central role in building Hanjins status within the industry.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy announced a plan to help the local shipbuilding industry to retake the number one spot in the global shipbuilding industry. The plan involves having leading local shipbuilders like Hyundai, Daewoo, STX and Samsung Heavy Industries teach managerial techniques, core technologies and other aspects of shipbuilding in a wide range of industries, the ministry said.
The ministry urged leading local shipbuilders to work together with small and medium-sized enterprises in order to achieve growth and secure industrial competitiveness. The ministry also said it will raise funds to support joint technology development and research and development projects between academia and the industry.
source: Ministry of Environment
