Samsung Heavy Industries inks construction deal for container ships

Samsung Heavy Industries has landed a 3.96 trillion-won ($3.1 billion) contract to build 16 container ships for Evergreen Marine.

A container ship built by Samsung Heavy Industries [SAMSUNG HEAVY INDUSTRIES]

Samsung Heavy Industries has landed a 3.96 trillion-won ($3.1 billion) contract to build 16 container ships for Evergreen Marine.

In a regulatory filing Monday, Samsung Heavy Industries said the methanol-powered vessels, each with a capacity of 16,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), will be delivered in stages by December 2027 for an undisclosed Asian shipper. However, the recipient of the order is believed to be Evergreen Marine, a Taiwan-based shipping company and the world's sixth largest global carrier in terms of cargo capacity.

The deal marks the single-largest order clinched by Samsung Heavy Industries, breaking its previous record of a 3.33 trillion-won order to construct 12 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, which it won in June last year.

Having obtained orders totaling $6.3 billion for the construction of 25 ships this year alone, Samsung Heavy Industries has achieved 66 percent of its 2023 target, set at $9.5 billion. Its 2023 order portfolio comprises of six LNG carriers, two oil tankers, 16 container ships, and a floating LNG gas facility.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]