South Korea’s big three shipbuilders have launched an end-of-year marketing offensive that has captured more than $2bn of newbuilding orders in the past week.

The campaign to bring in orders has intensified as the Covid-19 pandemic has left the yards falling short of their sales targets this year.

They also need to fill their orderbooks further into 2023 to give them adequate forward cover.

It is understood some yards are offering attractive incentives to seal deals before the year ends.

Samsung Heavy Industries said it has won an order for up to five suezmax tankers.

The owner is understood to be Centrofin, but the Greek company could not be contacted for comment before TradeWinds’ press time.

The deal is for three firm orders and two options. The ships are scheduled for delivery around 2023 and are priced at a reported $58m each, valuing the deal at $290m in total.

The vessels will be fitted with scrubbers and built to the high specifications of SHI’s S-Max tanker design.

The SHI deal comes just after Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) — the holding group for Hyundai Heavy Industries’ group of shipyards — confirmed it had captured a deal for 10 VLCCs valued at $890.5m in total.

The deal will be split between HHI, which will build seven VLCCs, and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, which is building three. The ships will be delivered from 2023.

Chinese-backed Everest Korea Finance Advisory is understood to be the main contractor. Sources close to HHI said it was the biggest single deal the yard had clinched this year.

Earlier in the week, Greek owner Latsco ordered two VLCCs at HHI for delivery in 2023, in an order worth $180m.

Attractive prices

DSME is expected to conclude further containership newbuilding deals. Photo: DSME

KSOE said it had booked orders for 21 VLCCs at HHI yards so far this year.

With HHI offering some of the most competitive VLCC prices in South Korea, KSOE is expected to announce more orders from Greek owners. Its order haul is expected to reach more than 25 VLCCs in total in 2020.

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has also been active in the newbuilding market this week.

Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Maritime wrapped up an order for six neo-panamax containerships, as shipowners continue to show hunger for newbuildings in the sector.

The Monaco owner is understood to have ordered the 15,500-teu newbuildings at DSME, although the deal could be ratcheted back to two vessels. The ships will run on conventional fuels.

The deal has been valued at KRW 723bn ($654m). DSME declined to comment on the owner behind the deal. Zodiac also declined to ­comment.

One industry player described the pricing as “attractive”.

“The newbuilding price of about $108m for a 15,500-teu newbuilding is relatively low. This price level is in line with what some Chinese shipyards are offering,” he said.

The six-ship order from Zodiac brings the total number of vessels won by DSME this year to 19.

The Okpo shipyard said it has secured orders worth $3.95bn and achieved 55% of its annual order target.

There could be more orders to follow at DSME. Newbuilding ­brokers said they are seeing an increase in enquiries for large ­containerships of between 13,000 teu and 15,000 teu.

They said the neo-panamaxes offer flexibility for trading and are replacements for 8,000-teu and 10,000-teu vessels that were ordered in the early 2000s. “Those vessels are not eco-fuel, and they need to be replaced,” one broker said.

TradeWinds is told that liner players Evergreen Marine and Hapag-­Lloyd and containership tonnage suppliers such as Costa­mare and Capital Product Partners are also among the companies showing interest in neo-panamax boxship newbuildings.

South Korean yards are playing catch-up after a disappointing first eight months of the year, blighted by the coronavirus pandemic.

During that time, order levels showed a year-on-year decline of 64%, largely driven by a fall in LNG carrier investment.