South Korean Shipbuilding Industry Plays Difficulties in Order Advantage of Marine Equipment

(According to the information provided by the Office of Science and Technology of the Ministry of National Defense of Shanxi Province) In the long-term downturn of the global shipbuilding industry, South Korean shipbuilding companies such as Daewoo Shipbuilding Marine have demonstrated their ability to adapt to the “good battle” and the goal of accepting orders this year has been completed.

Industry insiders say that South Korea’s shipbuilding industry can achieve such a performance, thanks in large part to the advantages of building offshore equipment. The strong momentum of receiving orders for marine equipment from the beginning of the year has continued to this day, and there is no sign of abating.

Daewoo Shipbuilding Marine Co., Ltd. has recently received hull equipment orders worth more than 240 billion won from the world's oil giants for the tension leg platform (deep water compliance platform for deep sea oil field production operations). Nearly half of the 8.8 billion U.S. dollars that the company has undertaken so far are US$4.2 billion for marine equipment.

Samsung Heavy Industries, which has already completed its orders in October, recently received orders for two US$1.08 billion drillships from Seadrill, a Norwegian oil exploration equipment specialist. Of the 9.1 billion U.S. dollars received this year, marine related equipment was 3.1 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for a large proportion.

In response, industry sources said that the increase in the proportion of marine equipment is a natural phenomenon that accompanies the rise in international crude oil prices.

The relevant person of Daewoo Shipbuilding and Oceanic Company pointed out that due to the high investment required for marine equipment, the demand for crude oil is low when it is cheap. With the rise in crude oil prices, orders for marine equipment and special vessels that are necessary for crude oil development have naturally increased. At present, the international crude oil price is about US$80 per barrel, and it is expected that it will exceed US$100 per barrel by next year, and the proportion of marine equipment will further expand.

In addition, in recent years, the growth of China's shipbuilding industry has been rapid, but China still has a large gap in terms of marine equipment construction compared with South Korea.