Daewoo Shipbuilding to focus on specialty vessels, eyes turnaround in 2017

Published : Mar 24, 2017 - 15:01 Updated : Mar 24, 2017 - 15:01

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., South Korea's embattled shipbuilder, said Friday that its portfolio will be mostly made up of LNG carriers and other specialty vessels, with the company expecting a business turnaround this year.

Its rosy outlook came a day after the country's state-run creditors of the shipyard, the world's largest by order backlog, announced a fresh rescue package worth 6.7 trillion won ($5.98 billion), but only if all stakeholders agree to a painful debt-for-equity swap plan.

(Yonhap)

The huge rescue measures, proposed by the state-run Korea Development Bank and Export-Import Bank of Korea, are the second round of bailout for the shipbuilder that has been suffering severe liquidity problems over heavy losses from offshore projects.

"Starting this year, a huge chunk of our portfolio will consists of LNG ships and other vessels that we specialize in. Most of loss-making offshore facilities projects have been completed," the company said in a statement.

Daewoo Shipbuilding said as of end-February, its order backlog came to 108 ships, 50 out of which are LNG-FSRU ships.

"We are going to reduce our exposure to risky offshore projects, while focusing on commercial ships and specialty vessels," it said. (Yonhap)