HHI grabs half dozen LNG carriers

Towards the end of June, HHI was reported to have secured a six LNG carrier newbuildings order worth over $1bn. Two ships were contracted by Fredriksen-controlled Golar LNG of Norway and four from African interests. All six carriers are Moss-type with a 137,000m3 capacity. At present, Hyundai has a total of nine LNG carriers on its order book, including three for Nigeria. The two LNG carriers ordered by Golar have four separate aluminium tanks per ship and will be delivered by the end of 2003 and July 2004 respectively. In addition, HHI has also been successful in the LPG gas tanker market this year, which are classified as high value-added vessels, by securing orders for six such vessels. The company is the only Korean shipyard with the capability to build both Moss- and Membrane-type LNG carriers, although it takes orders for only the membrane-type. Moss and membrane carriers used to be evenly split in term of global market share but membrane carriers now represent 70% of the market. HHI expects to receive orders for four to five more LNG carriers by the end of the year. The booming gas market is expected to last for quite a while and it is expected that the annual demand will reach 50 carriers which will cause a problem because the present world?s newbuilding capacity is just 35. Shipbuilders, including HHI, can therefore adjust to market demand and only accept orders at a price that will generate a healthy profit margin.