It has been a steady trend for ship owners all over the world to be ordering more and more new vessels. Expectations are that most of them will turn to Korean shipbuilding companies.
It has been reported by some industry sources that Gail of India has plans to buy nine LNG vessels, with three of them being ordered from India-based shipbuilders and the others from foreign manufacturers. BP Shipping has been engaged in talks with three ship owners regarding an LNG ship order – the discussions are to be finalized within this current month.
Expectations are that France-based Engie will purchase up to four ships from the Cameron LNG Project. Many Korean shipbuilding companies that have previously demonstrated a sound level of technical strength may turn out to be the best choice for the ordering parties in question.
In 2014, the top three Korean shipbuilding companies accounted for taking 46 out of a total of 64 LNG ship orders with each of the vessels having a minimum size of 150,000 cubic meters. Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) was awarded thirty-five of them, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) took six, and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) accounted for five. This year Daewoo has managed to take just six and Samsung merely two.
Expectations are for LNG vessel orders along with those for large container ships to prove to be quite beneficial for Korea’s shipbuilding industry. As of April 30th, CMA CGM has been planning to place an order for six to seven 20,000 TEU container carriers, while Maersk Line will procure ten 18,000 TEU ones. Yang Ming also has plans for purchasing eleven 20,000 TEU and five 14,000 TEU container vessels.