On July 24, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), the shipbuilding business holding company of South Korea’s HD Hyundai Group, announced the signing of a contract with an Oceania-based shipowner for the construction of two container ships.
The two 2,800 TEU container ships will be built at HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in Ulsan and are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2027. The total contract value is 156.4 billion KRW (approximately $114 million or 816 million RMB), equivalent to a unit price of $57 million per vessel. The new ships will be equipped with scrubbers and designed with auxiliary power systems to facilitate future installation of onboard CO2 capture technology.
For reference, Clarksons’ data shows that the current newbuilding price for a 2,900 TEU feeder container ship is approximately $45 million, an 8% increase from $41.5 million during the same period last year.
HD KSOE did not disclose specific details about the shipowner. According to foreign media reports, this order comes from Capital Maritime & Trading, a company under Greek shipping magnate Evangelos Marinakis. Including the latest order, Capital has now ordered a total of 10 2,800 TEU container ships at HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard this year.
Since the beginning of this year, Capital has continued to invest in container ship orders at HD KSOE. In April, it ordered four 8,400 TEU container ships, eight 2,800 TEU container ships, and six 1,800 TEU container ships, followed by an additional two 8,400 TEU container ships in May. Among these, the 8,400 TEU container ships are being built by HD Hyundai Samho, while the remaining feeder ships are constructed by HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard.
Including the two newly contracted container ships, HD KSOE has secured orders for 82 vessels worth $11.22 billion (approximately 80.3 billion RMB) so far this year, achieving about 62.2% of its annual order target of $18.05 billion (approximately 130 billion RMB). These orders include five LNG carriers, six LNG bunkering vessels, 50 container ships, two very large ethane carriers (VLECs), 11 oil tankers, and eight ammonia carriers.
As a shipbuilding subsidiary of HD Hyundai Group, HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard specializes in constructing various medium-sized vessels, with its medium-sized shipbuilding capabilities ranking among the world’s best. It holds a significant position in the global medium-sized container ship market and has been listed among South Korea’s “World-Class Products.” In recent years, HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard has made continuous efforts in developing eco-friendly ship designs, achieving notable results. In 2023, it delivered the world’s first methanol-powered container ship, the 2,100 TEU “Laura Maersk,” to Denmark’s Maersk, showcasing world-leading technological capabilities in next-generation eco-friendly vessels.
However, in recent years, despite the shipbuilding market entering a “super cycle,” HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard’s profitability has been less than ideal due to delivery delays. In 2023, the company reported an operating loss of 166.2 billion KRW (approximately $125 million), making it the only shipbuilding subsidiary of HD KSOE to record an operating loss that year. In 2024, HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard achieved an operating profit of 88.5 billion KRW (approximately $65.22 million or 464 million RMB). Although it successfully returned to profitability, this figure remains far below the operating profits of other HD KSOE subsidiaries, such as HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (approximately 3.7 billion RMB) and HD Hyundai Samho (approximately 3.8 billion RMB). In the first quarter of this year, HD Hyundai Mipo Dockyard posted an operating profit of 68.5 billion KRW (approximately 348 million RMB), still significantly lower than HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ approximately 2.2 billion RMB and HD Hyundai Samho’s approximately 1.86 billion RMB.
