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SEOUL—Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world’s largest
shipbuilder, said April sales rose 25 percent after it
built oil tankers and container vessels at higher
prices.
Sales
climbed to 1.58 trillion won ($1.5 billion) from 1.26
trillion won a year earlier, the
Ulsan, South Korea-based company said in a regulatory filing
Monday. Hyundai Heavy’s new orders rose 50 percent to
$1.66 billion in the month.
Vessel
prices are headed for a fifth year of records as
shipbuilders pass on higher steel costs to buyers and as
demand for ships to carry fuel and consumer goods
outstrips supply.
Yards in
South Korea, the world’s largest shipbuilding nation,
are expanding capacity as order backlogs stretch into
2012.
Hyundai
Heavy and South Korean rivals won almost half of the
record $191.3 billion that shipping lines spent on new
vessels last year.
Sales
climbed 20 percent to 5.94 trillion won in the first
four months of the year, Hyundai Heavy said. New orders
in the period more than doubled to $12.5 billion from
$5.07 billion a year earlier.
The
company delivered 31 vessels to ship oil, consumer
goods, liquefied natural gas and other products worth
$3.29 billion in the first four months, compared with 32
vessels worth $2.38 billion a year earlier. Hyundai
Heavy had an order backlog worth $34.18 billion at the
end of April. (Bloomberg) |
