Korea wins another Japanese order

Japanese shipyards received another blow at the end of February when Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) chose to order a series of five 6,200 TEU post-panamax container ships from Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) rather than a Japanese yard.

NYK says the first of the new ships will begin entering service in September 2001, and says it placed its order in Korea because SHI was less expensive than Japanese yards, could deliver earlier, and because it felt quality at SHI had increased significantly.