Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), a holding company of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group in the shipbuilding sector, has won orders for seven ships with an aggregate value of more than 2 trillion won, according to BusinessKorea.
KSOE has signed a contract with Maersk, the world’s largest shipping company, to build six 17,000-TEU methanol-powered mega container ships. It will also build an LNG-FSRU for Accelerate Energy of the United States. FSRU stands for floating storage and regasification unit. An FSRU is a floating terminal capable of transporting, storing, and regasifying LNG onboard. The total amount of the orders stood at 2,095.8 billion won.
The six vessels ordered by Maersk are worth 1,620.1 billion won. These ships will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan and delivered sequentially by 2025. These ships will be equipped with methanol dual fuel propulsion engines. Methanol is drawing much attention as a next-generation eco-friendly vessel fuel. It significantly reduces the emission of pollutants such as sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and greenhouse gases compared to conventional vessel fuels.
KSOE has booked orders for 19 methanol-powered ships from Maersk until this week. When the shipping giant operates the ships built by KSOE, it will be able to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2.3 million tons per year. KSOE and Maersk signed the industry's first contract to build 16,000-TEU methanol-powered container ships in August 2021.
KSOE won an order for an LNG-FSRU from Accelerate Energy for 475.7 billion won. The order is the first of its kind in the shipbuilding industry this year. It will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries and delivered to the client in 2026.