In a regulatory filing, the shipbuilding holding entity of South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Group said on Monday that it landed a contract for an Asian customer to develop three very large crude carriers (VLCC) at 298.8 billion won.

The VLCCs will be installed for delivery by its Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries subsidiary beginning in the second half of 2022. KSOE shares ended 0.95 percent lower in Seoul on Monday at 104,000 won.

The new deal comes on top of other shipbuilding orders that Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding have recently bagged from their units.

Two 40,000-cubic-meter liquefied petroleum gas carriers, three 50,000-ton petrochemical tankers, and one 1,800-TEU container will be constructed by the subsidiaries. The value of each contract has yet to be revealed by the shipyards.

KSOE received 55%, or 17, of the total of 31 new VLCC shipbuilding orders placed worldwide last year.

The economic research institute of the Export-Import Bank of Korea projects global shipbuilding orders to leap 56.9 percent year on year to hit 30 million paid gross tons this year, as shipbuilders accelerate their move to green vessels ahead of the launch of the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index by the International Maritime Organization.

Maritime Business World