Drillships drive "surge" in Korean shipyard orders
Analyst says orders for drillships, offshore production facilities, and LNG carriers "will be flooded.", Ship & Bunker reports.
Deep-sea drillship orders have "surged" and are going to help South Korea's "Big 3" shipbuilders to their best quarter of the year in terms of orders, Baird Maritime reports.
During the first eight months of 2012 a total of 11 drillship orders were placed with Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries., and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, according to analyst Jun Jae-Chun of Daishin Securities, with the third quarter rounding out with a further three orders in September.
A total of eight further orders were expected in the forth quarter of 2012.
"During Q4, orders for drillships, offshore production facilities and LNG carriers will be flooded and Big 3's quarterly order is expected to exceed $11 billion," Jun Jae-Chun said, with a slow recovery in earnings for the firms predicted from 2013 onwards.
The order book for Hyundai Heavy Industries, who said it was targeting new orders of $30.55 billion for 2012, has also been helped by a $1.2 billion deal for new fuel efficient container ships.