Samsung Heavy Industries signs $3 billion of new orders

A liquefied natural gas carrier built by Samsung Heavy Industries [SAMSUNG HEAVY INDUSTRIES]

Samsung Heavy Industries has received two orders worth a total of 3.9 trillion won ($3 billion) to build 14 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.

One of the deals was signed Tuesday with a shipper based in Bermuda to build 12 174,000-cubic-meter LNG carriers, the shipbuilder said in a regulatory filing.

The deal is worth 3.3 trillion won, though the name of the buyer was not disclosed. It marks the largest single contract in Korea's shipbuilding history, breaking the company's own record.

To date, the record was the 2.8-trillion-won deal Samsung Heavy signed in March last year.

On the same day, Samsung Heavy Industries signed another deal with an undisclosed African shipping company to build two LNG vessels.

The total 3.9 trillion won is 59 percent of the company's total revenues last year.

So far this year, the Korean shipbuilders booked $6.3 billion of orders, achieving 72 percent of their full-year target.

"The demand for LNG carriers is on the rise," Samsung Heavy said in Wednesday's release. "We are expected to break this year's target with no difficulties."

Samsung Heavy booked $12.2 billion of orders last year, exceeding its annual order target of $9.1 billion.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]