World First
Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) delivered its 2,000th ship 41 years after it delivered its first in 1974. It is the first time in the world, and a splendid achievement amid sluggish business conditions.
HHI delivered the oil drillship “Ocean BlackLion” to U.S. oil drilling firm Diamond Offshore at the Ulsan shipyard on May 22. An official from HHI said, “It is a big record that companies in Europe and Japan, which has a longer history in shipbuilding than those of Korean companies, have yet to accomplish.”
Until now, HHI has delivered 2,000 ships to 308 client companies in 51 countries. By nation, it delivered 254 ships to Greece, 238 ships to Germany, 120 ships to Japan, and 101 ships to Denmark.
By type of a ship, container ships took the largest share with 583 units, followed by 232 tankers, and 147 very large crude carriers (VLCCs).
HHI started building its shipyard in a fishing village in Mipo Bay, Ulsan, in 1972, and built its first ship ― a 266,000-ton VLCC ― right after completion. In 10 years after its founding, the company ranked first in the sectors of winning shipbuilding contracts and the amount of building ships in the global market for the first time in 1983. HHI set its 1,000th ship-delivery record in March 2002. Also, it posted 100 million gross tonnage in ship deliveries in March 2012.