Korea to localize ship radar systems

Korea to localize ship radar systems

Korea's 14 industry, university, institute and government organizations will join forces to develop localization of 'ship radar systems'.

The cities of Ulsan and Busan, Hyundai Heavy Industries and several marine specialized universities and research institutes had a launching briefing of 'short and long distance radar system development and commercialization project for safe sailing' in Lotte hotel in Ulsan, Korea, on 23rd December.

The project costing around KRW 11bn ($9.6m) aims to localize ship radar systems that have been dependent on imports and will be completed by April 2013.  

The ship radar system, one of core ship IT equipment, is the only what domestic technology does not secure of the required configuration items of integral sailing information systems for sailing and communication.

The localization of the systems is expected to lead in sales increase by $235m annually as export replacement effect, and direct and indirect employment effects of 140 people on annual average.

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Samsung wins 6 Suez + 6 Aframax

Samsung wins 6 Suez + 6 Aframax

Greece's DryShips, a shipowner of deep-water drilling rigs and bulk carriers, said it has entered into the tanker segment by signing an agreement to purchase 12 tanker newbuildings for $770m from Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries.

The investment into the tankers, six of which are Aframax and the remainder Suezmax, will eventually be used in an initial public offering or for a spinoff, Athens-based DryShips said in a statement Thursday. “The tanker acquisition and eventual spin off or public offering is the next step in the evolution of the company,” Chief Executive Officer George Economou said.

One of the Suezmax ships will be delivered next year, two in 2012 and three in 2013, DryShips said. Four of the Aframax tankers will be delivered next year, with the other two coming in 2012. DryShips said that it made initial payments of about $120m from cash on hand and that it will finance the remainder, which includes delivery installments of 70 percent of each vessel’s price, with cash and bank debt.

Economou said the Dryships’s board has directed the company to “refocus” its efforts on the drybulk and tanker shipping markets.“While the tanker market is currently experiencing low freight rates, we believe that in the medium to long term strong oil demand growth as a result of the urbanization under way in China and India will lead to substantially improved market conditions,” he said in the statement.

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Saga orders 55K at Daewoo & Oshima

Saga orders 55K at Daewoo & Oshima

Norwegian shipowner Saga Shipholding Norway AS has ordered a series of seven open-hatch bulkers from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in Korea and Oshima Shipbuilding in Japan.

The 55,000-dwt ships will boost the capacity of forest products specialist Saga, a 100% NYK subsidiary based in Tonsberg, Norway. Daewoo is to build five of the vessels at its Okpo yard for a price put at about $55m each. They are for delivery between October 2012 and August 2013.

Oshima Shipbuilding will build two vessels for delivery in 2012 and 2013 with any premium over the Korean orders likely to be modest. The Korean orders also mark a change for the Norwegian shipowner as for over a decade it has always patronised Oshima. The long standing relationship may have contributed to the competitive Japanese price.

 

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Hyundai‘s drillship counterattack

Hyundai's drillship counterattack

Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries is staging a vigorous new order activities from the beginning of new year, attracting industries' eyes. According to the industry sources, shipbuilding players are paying sharp attention to Hyundai's future movement since it is carrying out aggressive new order activities in the drillship sector in which Hyundai had showed a slack before as compared with its rivals, such as Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

Hyundai has signed a new order contract with America's Diamond Offshore Drilling to build a drillship including one optional ship at a price of just under $500m per a ship. Besides, Hyundai is believed to have already made LOIs to win a number of drillships from America's oil majors.

Hyundai's ongoing new order projects for drillships involve two units plus two optional ships from Noble Drilling and one unit plus ons optional ship from MetroStar. Also, as Greece's DryShips is said to be placing four new drillship orders soon, the drillship newbuilding market is getting heated with time.

Those newbuilding projects feature that Hyundai singed LOIs at 5-10% more attractive lower prices than the prices barely formed in the gradually reviving drillship market, which pushes Hyundai ahead of its rivals in a new order battle. The total of drillships ordered since 2000 is estimated at 54 ships and 14 ships were ordered on an annual average for three years after 2006. However only two drillships were ordered at Daewoo in 2009 after the Lehman Shock, and Samsung won three drillships out of six ordered in late 2010 when the drillship market started to revive. Actually Samsung has held a dominant position in the new drillship market by winning overall 32 units since 2000.  

However, the exiting market order is crumbling by Hyundai carrying a full range of new order activities with the market being likely to turn into a rough-and-tumble battle. Hyundai has come forward to roll out aggressive new order activities to solve its pressed problems of lack of work, getting out of its old passive new order strategies. However, some say a calm recognition over the market situation is indeed required as excessively aggressive new order activities could throw the market order into confusion.

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Daewoo rolls out mammoth FPSO

Daewoo rolls out mammoth FPSO

Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has succeeded in building the world's largest scale of Floating Production Storage & Offloading Unit (FPSO). Daewoo held a naming ceremony for the FPSO yesterday.

The ceremony was attended by Nam Sang-tae, president of Daewoo, Philippe Chalon, president of Total E&P Angola, Jose B.Vasconcelos, Angolan Minister of Oil, Geraldine Escales, French consul in Seoul and many other senior officials from the world. The new unit, ordered by the world oil major France's Total in December 2007, was named 'Pazflor FPSO' after the name of the oil field in Angola, where the FPSO will be finally laid.

Pazflor FPSO features not only the largest scale of contract values but also the biggest size among the FPSOs that have been built so far in the world. Its total building costs reaches KRW 2.6trn ($2.3bn) with 325 meters in length, 61 meters in breadth, 32 meters in height and its own weight reaching 120,000 tons.

Also it has a production capacity of 22 barrels of crude oil and of 440,000㎥ of natural gas per day with a storage capacity of 190,000 barrels (about 260,000 tons) of crude oil. Plus, it can produce crude oil from two oil wells at the same time. About 36 months were spent building the unit after the new order contract was made in December 2007.

It is supposed to be laid in the offshore oil field of Africa's emerging oil producer Angola to produce crude oil in a full scale. To do so, Pazflor will put out from Daewoo's Okpo shipyard in the middle of January and complete laying and trial sailing in Angola  to be finally delivered to its owner Total.

Mr. Nam, president of Daewoo, said in the naming ceremony, that "Daewoo and Total have been maintaining a steady partnership while conducting three FPSO projects together. We will reward for shipowner's faith by successfully building the 'CLOV' FPSO ordered in last July." Meanwhile, Daewoo has successfully delivered overall five FPSOs from its first FPSO ordered by Canada's Haliburton to 'CLOV' FPSO ordered by France's Total in last July.

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Korean developing anti-pirate system

The recently increasing cases of pirate kidnapping are leading Korea's shipbuilders to come forward to develop anti-pirate systems. 

First, Hyundai Heavy Industries has created 'citadel system' as one part of anti-pirate systems. 

The system keeps sailors from being kidnapped by pirates by providing the sailors with a citadel under deck where they can stay for a while, still being able to communicate with the outside world. 

Samsung Heavy Industries has also invented 'integrated anti-pirate system' that allows conducting the whole process of distinguishing, tracing and eradicating pirate ships in a steering house. 

The one-stop integrated system involves some functions; ▲ distinguishing pirate ships through analysing sailing information; ▲ monitoring and tracing the ships through high definition night vision and ▲ water cannon remote control. 

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has acquired patent for 'fortress-type cabin' where there are no external pathways in accommodation space but only internal passages to secure sailors' safe passages and, at the same time, to prevent intrusions from the outside in advance. 

Plus, Daewoo installs water cannon on ships and covers the external wall of the accommodation place with films to make the wall slippery so pirate cannot easily climb ships. 

STX Offshore & Shipbuilding has come up with a strong iron door for sailor evacuation facilities to block any attempts of pirates, satellite transmission equipment to communicate with the outside and the space for emergency food storage. 

Also, it is considering installing a system to allow stopping the operation of a ship engine in the evacuation facility to play for time when kidnapped. 

The company currently reserves radar system to distinguish pirate ships from normal ones in advance and remotely-controlled water cannon and Water Jet Spray.

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SWS refreshes Chinese record

On January 21st, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) delivered two-unit 176,000dwt Capesize bulk carriers. So far, the output and delivery volume of SWS in January reached 1.001m dwt, which refreshed Chinese monthly output and delivery record.

On January 6th, SWS delivered 176,000dwt Capesize ships to American General Ore successfully. On 11th, a 297,000dwt VLCC was delivered to Greek Dynacom. On 15th, another 176,000dwt Capesize ship was delivered to German Orion. On 20th, two more 176,000dwt Capesize ships were taken by General Ore and Greek Gleamary respectively.

As is introduced, SWS delivered five ships totally in January. The shortest construction period in dock among them was just 76 days.

As is know, in spite of amazing accomplishments in recent years, Chinese shipyards still had a long way to go compared to Korean and Japanese rivals, especially in management level.

The new Chinese monthly delivery record done by SWS showed that Chinese top shipbuilders were able to do an excellent both in volume and efficiency.

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High yen damages Japanese

High yen damages Japanese

Takao Motoyama, the chairman of the Shipbuilder's Association of Japan (SAJ) revealed in SAJ's regular meeting on Wednesday that a high yen and steel price would be the biggest concern for Japan's shipbuilding industry in the future.  

Regarding a high yen, he said, Japan's shipbuilding industry has been struggling for new order intake since the second half of the year because of the weakened price competitiveness against its rivals - Korea and China. He also expressed his sense of crisis saying, "Japan is losing the offshore plant market as well as shipbuilding to Korea." 

However, he believed as exchange rates fluctuate every year by 15%-20%, the 80 yen level per dollar would not continue and the yen would start to depreciate instead. In terms of the gap between the steel prices offered for Japan and foreign countries, he said, "if it is true that export prices are cheaper, it is unacceptable." According to him, the pricing negotiation in the first half of the year faced hardships and finally came to a price advance. 

As another round pricing bargaining has started for next year, he hoped, both sides - shipbuilders and steel suppliers - would reach an agreement for resealable prices both can be satisfied with. When it comes to the newbuilding market situation, he said, as the shipbuilding market has grown faster than expected this year, the global total orders would reach 60m GT. 

Also, the ship prices have bottomed out and showed a slight increase, but newly-rising small- and medium-sized shipyards are currently offering lower prices to secure newbuildings, which makes it difficult to predict ship prices in the future, according to him. His outlook on Japan's shipbuilding industry for 2011 is that steady shipbuilding work is expected as the orderbook holds enough work, forecasting corresponding results. 

He added the newbuilding market is expected to recover as emerging nations see an economic improvement, creating a rise in freight volume. Also, despite the rising voice that order momentum would get languished due to a considerable completion of newbuildings, he hoped to see an increase in new orders through an improvement of product quality and development of new items.

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Korean eye more orders in 2011

Korean eye more orders in 2011

 

 Korea's large shipbuilders are expected to see an increase in their new order intake for 2011. Ok Hyo-won, a researcher at Korea's NH Investment & Securities, said, "according to the new order plan for 2011 revealed by local shipbuilders, Hyundai Heavy Industries aims to grow more than 29% against 2010, Samsung Heavy Industries targeting $12bn by increasing 22% and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard aiming at the $3.3bn mark up by 14%."

The researcher judged as saying, "the global orders for commercial vessels for 2011 are expected to stand at the 130m-dwt level similar to this year." "However Korean yards, which are armed with high competitiveness for the non-shipbuilding sectors and high value-added vessel types, would see an increase in new orders," he added. He also prospected Hyundai would continue to rush for the non-shipbuilding fields centering offshore plants and facilities with a huge increase in new orders for the shipbuilding sectors due to a recovery of mega boxship orders.

According to him, even though Samsung is now targeting its new orders at the $12bn mark for 2011, if it wins optional orders for seven drillships, it will possibly hit $15bn. Plus, Hyundai Mipo is predicted to be likely to reach the $4.3bn mark next year considering the yard exceeded its annual new order target by 28% this year.

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Daewoo pens five 55K cargo carriers

Daewoo pens five 55K cargo carriers

Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has added five more newbuildings to its orderbook. In Norway on December 20th, Daewoo signed a contract with Saga Shipholding Norway AS to build five 55,000-dwt Open Hatch General Cargo Carriers. 

Both companies decided not to reveal the contract price, Daewoo said. The newly signed cargo carriers are of open hatch type and mainly transport forestry products like pulp. Even though the size of the carriers is quite small, but they are known as a high value-added vessel. 

The five cargo carriers will be built at Daewoo's Okpo Shipyard for delivery by the middle of 2013. Saga Shipholding Norway AS is a shipping company to transport forestry products, such as trees and paper, and its main routes are between South America and Europe and between South America and Asia. 

Saga, in particular, is plunging into the fast growing South American market, which increase an expectation for additional orders to be placed under its long-term fleet expansion plan. One official from Daewoo said, "the latest contract has a big meaning that Daewoo has secured a new giant customer." 

"Daewoo will keep its leadership in the shipbuilding market through its distinguished  customized strategies," he added. With the new order, Daewoo has closed the year with breaking the $10bn new order mark for the first time in two years since 2008. 

The company aims to make 2011 a springboard to jump to be a leading general heavy industries by postering offshore plants, energy, shipping and construction businesses based on its exisiting key business areas including the shipbuilding and offshore industries.

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Hyundai wins Qatar offshore plants

Hyundai wins Qatar offshore plants

Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries has won 2011's first offshore new order by winning large-scale offshore project worth KRW 1trn ($900m). Hyundai announced today that it has recently signed a new order contract with Qatar's RasGas to build offshore plants for the project of Barzan offshore oil & gas field development at a price of KRW 1trn. 
The newly ordered offshore plant construction is a part of the joint project to develop the oil & gas field in the Northern Qatar area, headed by RasGas and America's Exxonmobil. 

Hyundai will build three top plants of the offshore platform to produce natural gas at its Ulsan-based offshore plant and transport them to the Barzan gas field to install in person. The whole submarine pipeline to transport natural gas is 300km in length and will be laid at a depth of 50 meters with the submarine cable to supply power and communications being 100km. 

Hyundai will apply the method of Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) over the whole process, such as purchasing, production, installation and trial trip, to the ultra-large offshore construction. Hyundai is said to have submitted LOI in April 2010 and finally won the order after keen competition with the world-class offshore specialized companies.   

Kang Chang-jun, head of the offshore & engineering  division of Hyundai, said, "Hyundai is the only one in Korea, which can lay various kinds of offshore units, such as submarine pipelines, in person. And we are recognized for highly-developed technology and reliability by beating the companies, which perform a basic design, a big advantage for new order intake." Hyundai has set this year's new order target to $4.8bn in the offshore sector and already achieved 20% of the target by the latest new order intake.

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Offshore to lead New Year

Offshore to lead New Year

World's total of commercial ship newbuilding orders for this year is expected to fall short of 2010's figure. While both containership and LNG ship orders are forecast to increase, bulker orders are seen to drop sharply. 

Bulker orders would decrease to the half of last year's total whereas boxship orders would jump by more than 120% centering on ultra large vessels. Based on Korea-listed big three shipbuilders, with ultra large boxships occupying more than 60% share, new orders for commercial ships are forecast to rise even though world's total of new ship orders declines. In addition, this year's total of orders for the offshore plant sector is prospected to jump by 60% versus last year.

Therefore, based on the big three, 2011 would be the first year that new order balance shows an increase since 2008 as new order values surpass sales. The offshore sector would occupy more than 50% of the whole new order values in 2011.The main reasons for the big increase in the offshore plant sector are rooted in rising oil prices and diversification of offshore plant products. 

For example, when an average oil price hit the peak of $99.9 in 2008, the highest amount of orders was placed. With the oil prices of West Texas Intermediate being expected to stay in the middle of $80 in 2011, new orders for the offshore sector would approach the level of 2008 even though 2011's oil prices are lower than 2008's. To look to the new order vessel types of offshore plants of Korea-listed six shipbuilders in 2008, deep-sea drillships approached 78% of the whole, but increasing demand for FPSOs and LNG-FPSOs as well as deep-sea drillships is prospected in 2011.

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