Two new orders worth 1.1 billion yuan secured! Shipbuilding giant accelerates toward its annual target

On November 17, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, the shipbuilding business holding company of South Korea's HD Hyundai Group, announced that it has signed construction contracts with shipowners in the Oceania region for two product tankers.

The contracts for these two Aframax product tankers total 219.4 billion Korean won (approximately US$150 million or RMB 1.067 billion), equivalent to a construction cost of US$75 million per vessel. The new ships will be built at HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in Ulsan, with plans to deliver them sequentially to the owners by February 2029.

Although HD Korea Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has not disclosed the shipowner’s information, according to foreign media reports, this order comes from Stealth Maritime. Last week, HD Hyundai announced that the two Suezmax tankers it had just secured were also ordered by the same company, with the total contract value amounting to approximately US$176 million (about RMB 1.251 billion).

Including the latest orders, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering has secured a total of 107 vessels worth $14.64 billion (approximately RMB 103.94 billion) so far this year, achieving 81.1% of its annual order target of $18.05 billion (about RMB 128.5 billion). Among these orders are 5 LNG carriers, 6 LNG bunkering vessels, 69 container ships, 2 Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs), 16 oil tankers, 1 product oil tanker, and 8 LPG/liquid ammonia carriers.

At the beginning of this year, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering announced its 2025 order target, setting the annual order value for shipbuilding and offshore businesses at $18.05 billion—33.7% higher than the 2024 target of $13.5 billion. This ambitious increase reflects the company’s need to secure more orders as new vessel deliveries ramp up, ensuring a steady workload that can sustain operations for over three years. A company official stated: "Given that the market for eco-friendly ship orders is expected to remain robust, we’ve set our 2025 order targets accordingly. Currently, the company has already secured a solid pipeline of orders, so we’ll continue pursuing a selective order strategy focused primarily on profitability."

Clarkson's latest report reveals that the global tanker market has regained strong upward momentum. In particular, the product tanker segment continues to demonstrate resilient growth, with rates hovering around $20,000 per day—though still significantly lower than the peak of $30,000 per day seen during the 2022–2024 cycle, they remain well above long-term benchmark levels. This suggests that, ahead of the market entering its seasonal peak season, momentum in this niche segment remains firmly balanced.

HD Hyundai Mipo primarily builds various types of mid-sized vessels, boasting world-leading capabilities in mid-sized shipbuilding. Notably, the mid-sized product tankers it constructs were already recognized as South Korea’s “World-Class Products” as early as 2003. According to Clarkson data, excluding the latest orders, HD Hyundai Mipo currently holds a total of 111 ships with a combined deadweight tonnage of 3.67 million tons. These include 35 LPG carriers, 31 oil tankers, 27 container ships, 12 LNG carriers, and 6 car carriers, with delivery schedules extending as far as 2028.