HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering), and Samsung Heavy Industries, the top three in the domestic shipbuilding industry, have finalized this year’s wage and collective bargaining agreements in a timely manner. With an enhanced production capacity, they have established a foundation advantageous for large-scale orders.

According to the half-year reports of the three companies on Sept. 11, this year’s first-half production capacity significantly increased compared to the same period last year. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries recorded 12.89 million man-hours in the first half, growing by 45.1% compared to last year. A man-hour (MH) is a unit that represents the labor force per hour, meaning if five workers work for 10 hours, it’s expressed as 50 MH.

Hanwha Ocean saw an increase of 56.3% with 12.562 million MH compared to the same period last year, while Samsung Heavy Industries had a 1.1% increase with 9.62 million MH.

After successfully finalizing its wage and collective bargaining agreement last year, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries did the same this year. Hanwha Ocean, which suffered significant damage from subcontractor strikes last year, has been focusing solely on production this year after establishing a new start with early collective bargaining.

The shipbuilding industry, already backed with orders for the next 3-4 years due to recent surges, is now able to focus solely on the second half’s order battle. Qatar Petroleum (QP) plans to place a second order of 40 LNG carriers worth 13 trillion won in the latter half of this year. In the previous order, out of a total of 65 orders, the three domestic shipyards secured 54. Specifically, Hanwha Ocean secured 19, Samsung Heavy Industries 18, and HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering 17.

Source: Business Korea