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Orders for conventional vessels have come to a halt subsequent to the global financial crisis. On the contrary, there are great expectations in the demand for offshore segment and Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction(HHIC) which had a high reliance on boxships needs now to step into the offshore business to overcome the current market conditions
and ensure a sustainable mid, long term growth.
According to HHIC, a task force team(TFT) of about 60 personnel for the offshore biz have been put together last month.
Preparation is on its way by specialists from their design, tech, and sales team for the development of offshore vessels such as LNG FPSO and drillships as well as transport vessels such as FLNG vessels.
Along with the operation of the TFT, the sales crew of HHIC will be participating in the Gastech 2009 this month to check out the latest trends and developments affecting the commercial and technical gas industry.
The entrance of HHIC into the offshore business is not only from the stalled market but also they have secured a lot of
space at their newly completed shipyard in Subic, the Philippines for this purpose.
Before the completion of the Subic shipyard, the only available lot was their Yeongdo shipyard about 250,000m² which
is cramped up to just handle conventional vessels.
Especially in the mid 1990s, HHIC invested $26m for the development of Asia’s first membrane type LNG vessel but
could not continue this business because of the limited space of their shipyard.
Things have drastically changed through the construction of the Subic shipyard.
Conventional vessels now can be built in Subic and Yeongdo shipyard could be used for offshore vessels only and
large scale offshore plants could be built at Subic.
“It wasn’t possible for us because of hardware matters but since the completion of our new shipyard, now we are able
to enter into the offshore plant business. As productivity increases in Subic, it’s providing us with more opportunity for
new challenges,” said the spokesperson.
However, HHIC still has some unsolved problems.
First, They have to secure a design team for the offshore plant development, form alliances with external engineering
groups in order to intensify their offshore technology.
“We know that we got into the business late compared to other competing yards but HHIC developed Korea’s first
drillship in 1977 and the idea behind the FPSO of today is based on that model, so with our accumulated technology
put together, we are confident that it will be a success.”
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