Hyundai Heavy Wins Oil Tanker Order at Record Price
Wednesday, 07 May 2008
Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world's largest shipbuilder, won an order for three oil tankers from Greece at a record price of more than $156 million each as rising crude prices spur demand. The Very Large Crude Carriers, or VLCCs, will be built for Marmaras Navigation Ltd., Ulsan, South Korea-based Hyundai Heavy said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The ships will be delivered in the first quarter of 2011.
Ship prices are rising to records for a fifth year as shipbuilders pass on higher steel costs to customers and as demand for vessels to carry fuel and consumer goods outstrips supply. Shipyards have backlogs stretching into 2012, prompting them to increase production.
The price of a 300,000 deadweight-ton VLCC was $152 million at the end of March, 4.1 percent more than the $146 million at the end of last year, according to London-based Clarkson Plc, the world's largest shipbroker.
Crude oil traded near a record $120.36 a barrel in after- hours trading in New York today on speculation demand will rise during the peak summer driving season in the U.S. and ahead of the Beijing Olympics Games.
Hyundai Heavy is expanding capacity as it builds two of the world's largest docks and extends the length of existing ones in South Korea to meet demand. Operations on the new facilities are expected to start later this year.
Hyundai Heavy gained 1 percent to close at 366,000 won in Seoul. The stock has fallen 17 percent this year, compared with a 2 percent decline in South Korea's benchmark Kospi index.
Source: Bloomberg
