SHI half-year orders sets new record

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has received an order from a US firm to construct two drill ships, just in time to put the company’s combined orders for the first half of the year to over $10 billion. SHI claim this is the first time ever that a shipbuilding company has received ship orders exceeding $10 billion in just six months.

So far this year, SHI has received orders for 25 container ships, 18 oil tankers, 6 LNG ships, and 5 drill ships, the combined value of which weighs in at $10.1 billion. SHI now expects to surpass its revenue for 2006, which was $12.6 billion. SHI has upwardly adjusted this year’s order target, to an unprecedented $15 billion from the earlier, more conservative $11 billion estimate.

With the ship building industry poised to capitalise on the high demand for new vessels SHI has also confirmed an order backlog worth $33 billion, which amounts to more than three years of work. The Korean shipbuilder also broke its previous price record for an individual ship by building a ship valued at $177 million. On the back of these half year figures the company has claimed that SHI now receives 81% of high value-added ship orders in the world, commanding a record market share.

The shipyard has also received orders for eight 12,600TEU container ships (the world’s biggest) and four 266,000m³ LNG ships (the world’s highest volume) so far this year. SHI also plans to build a drill ship that is to cost $600 million, the world’s most expensive price for a single ship.