Samsung Heavy Industries, Korea's third largest shipbuilder, announced on Monday that it secured a combined six orders for liquefied natural gas carriers worth US$1.2 billion. Four of them are for 160,000 cu. m carriers for U.K.-based Golar LNG Energy with deliveries scheduled for the first half of 2014.
The industry views the deals as a sign that the LNG shipbuilding market is recovering. The market, which prospered until 2007 with average yearly orders of 30 to 40 ships, spiraled downward in 2008 amid the global economic crisis. But high oil prices and rising demand for eco-friendly energies have revived the market gradually. Samsung Heavy said that the accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has also spurred demand for alternative energies such as LNG.
The company's president Roh In-sik said, "This is the first time that Golar LNG Energy, a leader in the field with nine LNG carriers and four LNG-floating storage and regasification unit ships, has ordered LNG carriers from Samsung Heavy Industries."
Samsung Heavy has won orders for 20 ships worth a total $4.7 billion so far this year, including the six LNG carriers, four drill ships, nine container ships and one platform supply vessel.
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