Samsung Heavy to reduce workforce

Samsung Heavy Industries Co. is seeking to cut its workforce and have employees return part of their salaries in order to cut costs, industry sources said Tuesday.

Last year, the major South Korean shipyard unveiled a self-restructuring program that centers on cutting the workforce and having executives return part of their salaries, in order to tide over a protracted slump in the shipbuilding sector.

Samsung Heavy was forced to reduce its workforce by 1,500 in 2016 through an early retirement scheme. The shipyard aims to slash its workforce by a total of 5,000 by 2018.

The shipyard won $4.8 billion worth of orders to build 13 ships, including two offshore plants, in the first six months of the year.

The company also expects to win a $1.5 billion deal to build 12 articulated tug barges. Samsung has already signed a letter of intent with SeaOne for the deal, which calls for the construction of the barges that will carry compressed gas.

If the deal goes smoothly, orders secured by Samsung Heavy will hit $6.2 billion this year, just shy of its annual goal of $6.5 billion. (Yonhap)