Hyundai Heavy wins ship bid

SEOUL - Agence France-Presse

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipbuilder, said yesterday it had won a $1.2 billion order to build 10 huge container ships for a Greece-based company.

“These orders are noteworthy considering the current sluggish shipbuilding market,” the South Korean company said in a statement.

“We expect some orders to be realised in the second half to help achieve this year’s order target.” But the deal still leaves the company far short of its ambitious target of new orders for this year. Hyundai Heavy has won orders totalling $6.13 billion so far this year including the latest order, a spokesman told AFP. Its 2012 target is $24 billion, up from last year’s $20.1 billion.

The company said the 10 container ships, each capable of carrying 13,800 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) containers, would be delivered to the Greek shipowner, whose name was not disclosed, by the second half of 2014.Evergreen Marine Corp. would charter the mega-ships.