Daewoo profit falls

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) reported that its net income in July declined 34% to $8.1 million from a year earlier. Operating profit fell 58% $9.66 million, with sales declining 30% to $311.5 million.

DSME, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries, the world?s three largest shipbuilders, are constructing ships ordered in 2002 and 2003 when the price of new tankers fell to a 10-year low. The big three are having to pay as much as 70% more for steel to build the ships. Vessel prices have more than doubled since 2002.