SEOUL– Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., the world’s biggest shipbuilder by order backlog, said Tuesday it has received a 1.65 trillion won (US$1.4 billion) order to build container ships.
Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., an affiliate, will build eight container carriers for A.P. Moller-Maersk by November 2024, Korea Shipbuilding said in a statement.
The 16,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container ships will be powered by methanol, and Maersk expects to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 1 million tons a year with the use of the ships, it said.
It is the first time to install a methanol-powered engine in a large container ship, and the Denmark-based shipping firm is expected to place more orders for methanol and other alternative fuel-powered ships from Korea shipbuilding, a company spokesman said.
On Tuesday, other affiliate Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co. said it has received 196.5 billion won deal to build two liquefied natural gas carriers for an unidentified Asian shipping company by June 2024.
With the latest orders, Korea Shipbuilding, which also has Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. under its wing, has achieved $19.2 billion worth of orders so far this year, far exceeding its annual order target of $14.9 billion.
As of June, Korea Shipbuilding had $32.8 billion, or 350 ships, in order backlog, which will make the three shipyards busy for 2 1/2 years.
Source: Yonhap News Agency