HHI continues to win big orders from overseas while proving its technological prowess
In late November, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) won a US$250 million order for high voltage transformers from South Africa’s state-owned electricity utility Eskom Holdings Ltd. Under the contract, HHI and Daewoo International will supply high voltage transformers to 11 power plants in South Africa until 2019.
“The order has significant meaning. HHI expects to expand its market share in this region through the order. As HHI meets the high technical standards of Eskom, the company could take additional orders in Africa and the Middle East,” an HHI official said.
Furthermore, the heavy industry giant booked a US$1.4 billion order for the SHWE Project in Myanmar from Daewoo International Corporation in early November. The SHWE Project is for development of sections Block A-1 and Block A- 3 at Bengal Bay, 70km west of Myanmar. It will install a huge gas production and processing platform to produce gas, transport the gas to Ramree Island through subsea pipeline and export the gas to China through an onshore gas terminal.
HHI will serve the entire project on a turnkey basis, including engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commission. The company will build a 40,000- ton class offshore gas platform, a subsea production system, subsea pipelines, an onshore gas terminal, a jetty and a supply base. The project will be completed by March 2013.
When complete, the gas platform will produce 500 million cubic feet of gas per day. Daewoo International and HHI will sign the official contract in the middle of December 2009 with Myanmar’s approval. HHI has secured US$6.4 billion of orders for onshore and offshore plants, surpassing its annual new order target of US$5.84 billion. The figure is almost 13% of the Korean Plant Industries’ annual target of US$50 billion. The company is also in discussions for additional new orders.
HHI’s factories are becoming popular tour sites for foreign VIPs when they visit Korea. On October 26, 2009, Bulgaria’s President Georgi Parvanov visited Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in Ulsan. Parvanov and his party watched a company film and took a tour of the shipyard led by Min Kehsik, Vice Chairman and CEO and Choi Kilseon, President and CEO of HHI. After the shipyard tour, the President visited the transformer manufacturing plant and expressed his interest in HHI’s technology. He expressed hope that both countries will make efforts to develop bilateral trade. HHI established its subsidiaries for transformer production and sales of electro electric systems in Sofia, Bulgaria. The subsidiary recorded US$5.7 million in sales for 2008. The company target is US$7.5 million for 2009 and US$10 million for 2010. President Parvanov also visited cultural relics in the southeastern ancient capital Gyeongju on October 25.
In the technology sector, HHI continues to prove its excellence. Its HiMSEN Engine (model name: 9H21/32) and Excavator designed by Techno Design Institute of Hyundai Heavy Industries received the International Forum Design Award and the Pin Up Design Award 2009, respectively. The HiMSEN Engine (model name:
9H21/32, 18H32/40V) also received the Silver Prize in the Pin Up Design Awards held by the Korean Industrial Designer Association and the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. Furthermore, its 9 series excavators, ranging from 11 tons to 38 tons were acknowledged for their good design.