HHI moves in land

Hyundai Heavy Industries will build a 105,000DWT tanker on land this year. The shipbuilder said that this is the first time in the world a large vessel has not been constructed in a dock.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipyard, has shocked many of its competitors by announcing that it has developed a method of constructing ships on land and will begin building ships using this new method which will allow major ships to be constructed on land rather than in a dock, completely disproving the preconceived notion that ships can only be built and launched from docks.

The new on-ground shipbuilding methodology involves building mega-sized blocks, lifting them by crane, a technique referred to as “super lifting,” assembling the blocks and skidding them onto a barge. The barge is taken out to sea and the ship launched by submerging the barge.

HHI, having applied this method on a 340,000DWT FSO (Floating, Storage and Offloading) vessel and two semi-submersible rigs, has virtually completed the “trial test”of this new method.

Hyundai Heavy official said, “Through the experience we gained from building the FSO on ground we will be able to build ships even in places where there are no docks such as our offshore yard.” That means, compared to traditional shipbuilding methods, on-ground construction shortens building time by three to four months and improves the safety level of the workers.

Considering that the offshore and industrial plant market is expected to remain stagnant while shipbuilding is forecast to pick up during the next two to three years, Hyundai Heavy Industries has appropriately timed the changes in the market and upgraded its production capacity accordingly.

A company official said, “The on-ground method is an efficient way to reduce time and money involved in using docks for offshore and plant projects. It will offset the stagnant orders in offshore and industrial plant areas by improving the utilization of production facilities.”