Samsung Heavy Industries signs a deal to build two ice-class oil tankers

Samsung Heavy Industries has won 7.1 billion U.S. dollars worth of orders, including a recent deal to build two ice-class oil tankers, this year.

According to the South Korean shipbuilder on Monday, it has signed a 187.5 billion won deal with a European shipping company to build two Aframax tankers by March 2022. The ice-breaking vessels are designed to operate in temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius and can resist a collision with ice of up to 70 centimeters thick. The price of the vessels is twice as high as those in the same rank.

With the deal, Samsung Heavy Industries has won a total of 7.1 billion dollars worth of orders this year, achieving 91% of its annual target of 7.8 billion dollars. This is the biggest amount the company has earned from orders in the past five years, including 6.3 billion dollars in 2018 and 6.9 billion dollars in 2017.

By mid-November, Samsung Heavy Industries has won orders to build a total of 39 vessels including 13 LNG carriers, six containers, 16 crude oil tankers, and two petrochemical product tankers. The shipbuilder held 5.83 million CGT as of late October, having the largest order backlogs among global shipbuilders for four months in a row.


Do-Hyong Kim dodo@donga.com