11.7 Billion in Orders in Just 9 Days! Shipbuilding Giant Secures Two More Oil Tanker Orders

On March 6, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, the shipbuilding business holding company of South Korea’s HD Hyundai Group, announced that it had signed construction contracts for two crude oil tankers with a Greek shipowner.

These two crude oil tankers will be built at HD Hyundai Samho in Yeongam County, South Jeolla Province, with delivery to the shipowner scheduled for before the end of June 2029. The contract value is 263.2 billion Korean won (approximately US$178 million or RMB 1.227 billion), equivalent to a unit cost of US$89.1 million per vessel.

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering has not disclosed the shipowner’s information; however, it is understood that Greek shipowner Arcadia Shipmanagement recently placed an order with HD Hyundai Samho for two Suezmax crude oil tankers with a deadweight of 157,000 tons.

For reference, Clarkson’s data show that the current newbuilding price for a Suezmax crude oil tanker with a deadweight of 156,000–158,000 tons is approximately USD 87.5 million, unchanged from the same period last year.

This marks the fourth batch of new ship orders that HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering has secured within a span of nine days. Previously, on February 26, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering received an order from Greek shipowner Tsakos Group for one large LNG vessel, with a contract value of 367.8 billion Korean won (approximately US$257.5 million or RMB 1.761 billion).

On February 27, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering secured an order from Korea Koryo Shipping for six 1,800 TEU container vessels, with a contract value of 372.4 billion Korean won (approximately US$259 million or RMB 1.783 billion), equivalent to a per-vessel cost of US$43.1 million.

On March 5, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering signed construction contracts with Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Ocean Yield for four large LNG carriers, with a total contract value of 1.4872 trillion Korean won (approximately US$1.01 billion or RMB 6.95 billion), equivalent to a per‑vessel cost of US$252 million.

To date, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering has secured orders for 13 new vessels within just 9 days, with a total value of US$1.7 billion (approximately RMB 11.7 billion).

Including the latest Suezmax crude oil tanker orders, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering has secured 31 ship orders totaling USD 4.55 billion (approximately RMB 31.4 billion) so far this year, achieving about 19.5% of its annual order target of USD 23.31 billion. The orders comprise 10 LNG carriers, 10 container ships, 3 LPG/liquid ammonia carriers, 6 oil tankers, and 2 chemical tankers.

At present, the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed, and the impact of U.S.–Iran tensions on the oil tanker construction market is gradually becoming apparent. In the short term, surging demand for oil tanker capacity is driving a rise in new orders for oil tankers, and newbuild prices for oil tankers are also expected to remain high. Should this conflict drag on, the global energy transportation landscape may be reshaped, giving rise to greater demand for alternative shipping routes and providing support for the medium- to long‑term oil tanker construction market.