South Korean shipbuilding industry expects another tough year

S. Korean shipbuilding industry expects another tough year
2/01/2018 http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/s-korean-shipbuilding-industry-expec...

South Korea will release a fresh set of shipbuilding restructuring plans in the first quarter of this year to support the struggling sector as the industry as a whole is bracing for another tough year, the commerce ministry said Thursday.

In a new year’s meeting held in the southeastern port city of Busan, industry and government officials discussed ways to tackle the challenge through technology innovation and cost-cutting efforts.

“The South Korean shipbuilding industry is expected to face a tough business environment due to decline in backlogs, low sales prices, a strong Korean won and rising steel prices,” the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a release.

The ministry said it will come up with ways to increase orders from the public sector and expand support for innovative technology to develop eco-friendly vessels and self-driving ships.

The latest move comes as the local shipbuilding industry, once the backbone sector of Asia’s fourth-largest economy, has been reeling from massive losses and a drop in new orders.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and its smaller rivals have been conducting self-rescue measures to tide over a protracted industry-wide slump.
Source: Yonhap