Samsung Heavy Industries has struck a jackpot for two consecutive days by securing an order for two very large ethane carriers (VLEC) worth 466.1 billion won. The company announced on March 18 that it has secured an order for two very large ethane carriers (VLEC) from an Asian shipowner for 466.1 billion won.

Ethane carriers are vessels that transport ethane extracted from natural gas in a liquefied state at minus 89 degrees Celsius. In 2014, Samsung Heavy Industries was the first in the world to secure an order for six 88,000㎥ class very large ethane carriers from India’s Reliance Industries.

The previous day, Samsung Heavy Industries also secured an order for nine shuttle tankers from a shipowner in the Oceania region, totaling 1.9355 trillion won. These are Suezmax class vessels (158,000 DWT, where DWT is the unit of the ship’s total weight) that can pass through the Suez Canal and are scheduled to be delivered sequentially by 2028.

Shuttle tankers are vessels that transport crude oil produced from offshore plants to storage bases on land. Samsung Heavy Industries, which built the first shuttle tanker in Korea in 1995, has secured 29 orders over the past 10 years, achieving a global market share of 57% (29 out of 51 vessels).

With the consecutive order rally, Samsung Heavy Industries has achieved 1.9 billion dollars in orders this year, fulfilling 19% of its annual target of 9.8 billion dollars. In addition to shuttle tankers, the company is expanding its order portfolio to include high-value-added vessels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.

A company official stated, “The trend of increasing orders for gas carriers, which are eco-friendly energy sources, is ongoing,” and added, “We will actively respond to changes in the market environment based on our excellent technological competitiveness.”
Source: Business Korea