韩国三大造船厂上半年订单完成约70%目标，多笔油轮和氨运输船订单已披露

Amid a global shipping crunch that has triggered a wave of new orders for tankers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, Korean shipbuilders are continuing their strong order performance, filling 70% of the annual order targets they set earlier this year.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 18th, Hanwha Ocean (042660.KS) signed a contract on the 15th with a North American shipowner to supply two very large crude carriers (VLCCs). The order is worth 394.3 billion won, and the vessels are scheduled to be delivered sequentially through the first half of 2030.
HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (009540.KS), HD Hyundai's intermediate shipbuilding holding company, also won an order on the 13th from a European shipowner for three very large ammonia carriers (VLACs) worth 545.6 billion won. The vessels will be built at HD Hyundai Samho's shipyard and delivered to the shipowner by the first half of 2030.
Including this deal, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering has won a total of 142 vessels worth $16.39 billion so far this year. By vessel type, these include 17 LNG carriers, 28 container ships, 43 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ammonia and liquefied carbon dioxide carriers, 11 crude oil carriers, 39 petrochemical product carriers (PC ships) and two pure car and truck carriers (PCTC ships). This represents 70.3% of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering's annual order target of $23.31 billion.
Samsung Heavy Industries (010140.KS) also secured a contract worth 284.9 billion won on the 7th to build two tankers for a Bermuda-based shipowner. On the 2nd, it had signed a contract to supply two tankers worth 273.4 billion won with an Oceania shipowner. Including this month's orders, Samsung Heavy Industries' cumulative orders this year have surpassed $10 billion, achieving 72% of its annual target of $13.9 billion. This marks the first time in five years, since 2021, that Samsung Heavy Industries has won more than $10 billion in orders annually.
Hanwha Ocean does not disclose its annual target, but is evaluated as sailing smoothly, having won $4.35 billion in orders in the first half of this year alone. The first-half order value increased more than 35% compared with $3.22 billion during the same period last year.
Korean shipbuilders are also pursuing profit growth through a strategy of selectively taking orders for high-value-added vessel types. According to financial information firm FnGuide, the combined second-quarter operating profit forecast (consensus) for Korea's three shipbuilders — HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Hanwha Ocean and Samsung Heavy Industries — is about 2.34 trillion won, up more than 50% from a year earlier.
"Korea's share of the global order backlog for large LNG carriers is 69%, so concerns about market share have now been resolved," said Han Young-soo, an analyst at Samsung Securities. "The fact that LNG carrier prices in Korea and China remain divided into two tiers means that shipowners recognize a premium for Korean-made vessels."