CEOs to Make Sales Pitches at Gastech 2019

The CEOs of Korea’s three major shipbuilders will attend Gastech 2019 to be held in Houston Sept. 17-19 to land orders for LNG carriers.

The CEOs of Korea’s three major shipbuilders -- Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and Samsung Heavy Industries –- are rolling up their sleeves to land orders for LNG carriers.

They will attend Gastech 2019, which will run in Houston, the United States, from Sept. 17-19, to receive this year’s final LNG carrier orders. The event is the world's three largest gas exposition held with the participation of the movers and shakers of the global oil and shipping industries. During the fair, which is held every year and a half, shipbuilders compete fiercely to land orders for LNG carriers and offshore plants.


The Korean shipbuilding industry is on high alert before its participation in this year’s Gastech show. Although they were expected to win large LNG carrier orders this year, their performance has been actually below expectations due to a drop in new orders stemming from global trade disputes.

The Korean shipbuilder's order receipts in the first seven months of this year were only half of last year's 6.45 million CGT. Global shipbuilding orders during the period added up to 11.82 million CGT, down 43 percent from the same period last year.

By company, Samsung Heavy Industries came up with a relatively good scorecard, with its order receipts totaling US$4.2 billion, 54 percent of its annual target of US$7.8 billion. The company is highly likely to build 15 icebreaking LNG carriers jointly with a Russian shipyard as it has recently won a design contract for the Russian icebreaking LNG carrier construction project.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, on the other hand, has reached about 31 percent (US$4.99 billion) of its target of US$15.9 billion, while DSME has achieved 36 percent of its target by landing new orders worth US$3 billion.

Earlier, Korean shipbuilders were expected to sweep Qatar’s orders for 40 LNG carriers, but the huge orders may not be placed within this year. Therefore, Hyundai Heavy Industries and DSME are unlikely to attain their goals for this year. This is why their CEOs and sales forces are under pressure to win new orders in the upcoming Gastech event in the United States.

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