Korean shipbuilders looking abroad

Korean shipbuilders are considering building more shipyards overseas to meet the current demand for newbuildings. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering is seeking to acquire shipyards for medium-sized vessels in Brazil, Angola and China where it is currently building a factory for hull blocks in Yantai, northeast China, that is to begin production early next year. China won’t let overseas companies own more than a 50% stake in a shipyard, but there are no such regulations for block factories.

Samsung Heavy Industries runs a block factory and plans to add another in China. It hopes to expand its factory into a shipyard once the authorities remove the limitations on foreign ownership. Samsung has been operating Samsung Heavy Industries Ningbo since 1997 and is searching for a site to build another shipyard in the Chinese northeastern province of Shandong, the sources said.

Another company, STX Shipbuilding, plans to build a hull-block factory in Shandong Province while Hanjin Heavy Industries is building a shipyard in the Philippines by 2016.

Hyundai Mipo Dockyard runs the Hyundai-Vinashin Shipyard in Vietnam. The yard is only a repair dock, but the company is considering outfitting it for shipbuilding.