Concerted Action

Nam Joon-woo (center), president of Samsung Heavy Industries and Kang Il-nam (second from left), chairman of Samsung Heavy Industries Workers' Council pose for a photo with executives of MISC and SRM, an ExxonMobil subsidiary, on Nov. 11 (local time).

Samsung Heavy Industries’ labor and management representatives have recently visited Malaysia together to attend an event organized by the company’s client. It is a stark contrast to situations at other Korean shipbuilders that are still suffering from labor conflicts.

Nam Joon-woo, president of Samsung Heavy Industries and Kang Il-nam, chairman of Samsung Heavy Industries Workers' Council, attended an invitation event hosted by MISC, a Malaysian shipping company, on Nov. 11 (local time), said Samsung Heavy Industries on Nov. 12.

At the event, the two officials met with executives of SRM, an affiliate of ExxonMobil that will charter ships from MISC. Nam and Kang expressed gratitude to SRM for using the ships to be built by Samsung Heavy and promised their best efforts to build high-quality ships.

It is quite rare in the Korean shipbuilding industry for labor and management officials of a shipbuilder to visit a contract partner together in an effort to land orders. The last time that such a visit was made by Samsung Heavy Industries’ labor and management was April 2016.

Previously, Samsung Heavy Industries won orders for the two most advanced 174,000 cubic meters LNG carriers from MISC. The two vessels will carry LNG produced by a subsidiary of U.S. oil major ExxonMobil for 15 years.

The concerted action of the Workers' Council should help Samsung Heavy Industries win a big order from Qatar Petroleum early next year, industry sources say.

Samsung Heavy Industries wrapped up wage negotiations for this year ahead of the two other major Korean shipbuilders as it did last year. By contrast, Hyundai Heavy Industries is facing difficulties in completing its wage negotiations with unionists. At Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), a wage agreement was concluded last month but a disagreement over the dismantlement of tents used for labor struggles has reignited a new conflict between the labor and management.

Meanwhile, this year, Samsung Heavy Industries has won orders for a total of 37 ships worth US$5.4 billion, attaining 69 percent of its goal of achieving US$7.8 billion in orders this year.

The shipbuilder also maintains the global top position with 5.27 million CGT for three consecutive months according to Clarkson Research. As of end-September, Samsung Heavy Industries came in first with 5.19 million CGT, followed by DSME with 4.53 million CGT, Hyundai Heavy Industries with 4.03 million CGT, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries with 3.71 million CGT and Italy Pincan Thierry with 1.93 million CGT.

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