HD Hyundai Targets $18B in Orders as Korea Raises Industry Support
HD Hyundai, South Korea’s largest shipbuilder, announced its order target for 2025 increasing it over last year but forecasting slowed industry growth. Recognizing the strong competition, Korea’s Export-Import Bank also said it would be increasing its financing capacity in 2025 for the shipbuilding industry.
The South Korean industry continues to face fierce competition said the president of the Korea Export-Import Bank Yoon-Hee-seong. The bank he reported will be increasing its financing capacity in 2025 by approximately 10 percent to support the shipbuilding industry. According to the reports, the bank will make approximately $8.2 billion in financing available for the export of ships, an increase of $683 million versus 2024.
The bank cited data from Clarkson and others reporting that overall shipbuilding orders are expected to fall by nearly 30 percent in 2025. They projected orders of 42 million compensated gross tons down from 59 million CGT in 2024.
Hyundai said its focus will remain on higher-value vessels and environmental applications such as ammonia dual-fuel as well as new technologies. The company reported in a stock exchange filing that its target for 2025 is $18.12 billion in orders. They are raising the target by 34 percent compared to its target for 2024. However, the company exceeded its 2024 target booking orders valued at $20.56 billion. As such, the target for 2025 is 12 percent lower than the actual results in 2024.
The shipyard highlights that its near-term building slots are committed with years’ worth of backlog. The order targets are divided with $9.75 billion at the largest yard HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, $4.5 billion at the Samho yard, and $3.8 billion at the Mipo yard.
The group started 2025 strong delivering its first vessel, a 174,000 cbm LNG to an Asian shipping company. They highlighted the vessel was ordered in 2022 when the company set a record with 44 orders for LNG carriers. Today, January 6, the group also celebrated the naming of two ammonia dual-fuel vessels at its Mipo yard in Ulsan. The vessels were ordered by Exmar. They also reported that the Mipo yard is scheduled to deliver a 16,000 TEU containership and a 2,800 TEU vessel tomorrow, January 7.
The outlook for 2025 includes deliveries across the major categories of ships. Scheduled completions include 26 LNG carriers, 14 LPG carriers, two ethane carriers, and one liquid CO2 carrier. They expect to complete a total of 40 containerships and 50 crude oil and product tankers.
South Korea’s strategy for combating the increasing competition from Chinese shipbuilders has been to focus on high-value and more complex ships. While China continues to make inroads into the LNG carrier segment, South Korea is pursuing eco-friendly technologies and vessel automation to maintain its position in the shipbuilding market.