HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) said that it is considering securing overseas shipyards to reduce costs and procure abundant human resources.
“We need to think about how to maintain our market share and run our business in the long term,” Park Seung-yong, chief operating officer (COO) of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, a subsidiary of HD KSOE, said in a recent interview with a foreign media outlet. He continued, “We are considering securing shipbuilding facilities overseas.”
HD KSOE currently owns Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding in the central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa and is building a joint venture shipyard in Saudi Arabia with the UAE’s Lamprell and Saudi Arabia’s Aramco. The shipbuilder is interested in acquiring Agila Subic Shipyard in the Philippines, according to industry sources.
“To develop shipyards overseas, local political stability is important,” Park said. Regarding the operation of Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding, which mainly builds medium-sized oil tankers, Park said, “In the future, we will build more advanced ships at Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding.”