Daewoo Shipbuilding gets 1.44-trillion won contract

SEOUL—Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., the world’s third-largest shipbuilder, received a combined 1.44 trillion won, or $1.37 billion, order from the US for two drill ships as rising oil prices spur exploration.

The vessels, to be used for drilling in deep water, will be delivered by April 15, 2011, the Seoul-based company said in a regulatory filing last week, without identifying the buyer.

Record oil prices and depletion of reserves in shallower water are prompting companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. to spend a record $98.7 billion this year on exploration and production, more than four times their investment eight years ago.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, owner of the western hemisphere’s largest oil discovery in three decades, plans to order 40 drilling ships and semisubmersibles worth about $30 billion for delivery by 2017.

With last week’s order, Daewoo Shipbuilding has about $4.9 billion worth of contracts this year and a backlog of $40.8 billion that may take almost four years to clear. (Bloomberg)

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China Merchants sees Vietnam port deal in 6 months

HONG KONG—China Merchants Group, the investor in harbors handling more than a third of the country’s containers, aims to secure agreement for a $1.3-billion port project in Vietnam within six months as it begins expanding overseas.

“We are confident the deal will happen,” Hu Jianhua, director of unit China Merchants Holdings (International) Co., said last week in Hong Kong.

The port, near Ho Chi Minh City, will be built with Vietnam National Shipping Lines, the country’s biggest shipping company.

A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, China Merchants and other port operators plan to invest in Vietnam because of surging economic growth that hit 8.5 percent last year, the fastest pace since 1996.

China Merchants and its units are also targeting overseas expansion to counter slowing growth in China.

“The US slowdown has indeed had some impact on China’s trade,” said Fu Yuning, the unit’s chairman. “Still, the overall economic growth in Asia is healthy.”

China’s container throughput is likely to grow at a double-digit rate this year, Fu said after China Merchants Holding’s annual general meeting.

Last year, the traffic rose 22 percent to 112 million boxes.

China Merchants is seeking more investments overseas, following the Vietnam deal, its first outside China, Fu said.

The Ben Ding Sao Mai port is expected to have six berths with the capacity to handle 100,000 tonnage vessels, China Merchants Group said in April 2007.

China Merchants Holdings owns stakes in ports including Shenzhen, Shanghai and Tianjin. Container traffic at Shenzhen, the world’s fourth- busiest cargo-box port, rose 8.5 percent in the first four months to 6.67 million boxes.

The snowstorms that crippled southern China around the end of January and the US slowdown stunted traffic growth, Fu said. (Bloomberg)

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French port strike to continue as law goes to National Assembly

PARIS—Workers at French ports plan to continue rotating strikes as legislation that will change the way the harbors operate makes its way through parliament.

“There will be a walkout during the night shift,” Veronique Hauchecorne, a spokeswoman for the Port of Le Havre, the country’s largest container port, said Friday.

Port-authority employees including crane operators and maintenance workers as well as dockers took part in stoppages Friday.

A 24-hour strike also affected the Port of Marseille’s container and oil terminals, said the port in a statement.

Dockers protesting tougher rules on pensions also stopped work for the morning shift, while the oil fishermen blocked depot at the Fos terminal.

“Forty-eight vessels waiting at the port or at sea, including 25 oil vessels, will have 24-hour delays in their operations,” the port said.

Container-traffic movement at Le Havre this month has been 40 percent below normal levels, Hauchecorne said.

The Confederation Generale du Travail, the labor union with the widest representation at French ports and cargo-handling companies, has called for strikes during the past month to protest the proposed law.

The government is pushing through the legislation under a fast-track process. It moved Thursday from the Senate to a committee at the National Assembly.

The union is against measures that would transfer state-controlled port authority employees, such as crane operators, to private cargo-handling companies, a move the companies say is crucial to raising productivity. (Bloomberg)

Aboitiz Group will expand slowly in south

THE Aboitiz group said it will transfer to its new container facility in Cagayan de Oro during the third quarter of the year, but that the expansion of its operations would be gradual as they are still monitoring cargo volume going to the southern part of the country.

Aboitiz Transport System (ATS) has “right-sized” its fleet—giving up passenger areas in favor of freight space—in response to rising fuel costs and stiff competition from airlines.

SEOUL—Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., the world’s third-largest shipbuilder, received a combined 1.44 trillion won, or $1.37 billion, order from the US for two drill ships as rising oil prices spur exploration.