Hanjin Obtains US$800M in Orders for Six VLCCs

Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction (HHIC) has obtained six orders for Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) for the first time since its foundation. 

This is very meaningful to the Korean shipbuilder in that it has mostly built small and medium size vessels so far. In addition, the specialization structure between the Yeongdo Shipyard in Busan and Subic Shipyard in the Philippines has become apparent; the former focusing on medium-sized and special vessels while the latter on large-scaled ones.

Hanjin announced that the Subic Shipyard, its local subsidiary in the Philippines, received an order to build four 300,000-DWT-class VLCC from the UK-based ship operator Navig8 on April 9, and another order to construct two oil tankers of the same type from a ship owner based in Europe. The total amount is estimated at US$800 million. 

This is the first time for HHIC to obtain an order for VLCCs. In the past, the Korean shipbuilder was not able to win a contract for VLCCs, since its Yeongdo Shipyard in Korea was too small to build large vessels. However, the company successfully penetrated the market this time owing to the construction of the Subic Shipyard in the Philippines in 2009, which has the latest facilities and the world’s largest dock.  

With a length of 333m, a width of 8.5m, and a depth of 30m, the latest double-hulled oil tanker can sail with a speed of 15 knots while carrying the total amount of oil consumed per day in Korea. The shipbuilder is going to build six ships in the Subic Shipyard and is scheduled to deliver them from the latter half of 2016 to 2017.