SHI is ready to invest around $950 million in the overseas shipbuilding facility by 2017, according to SHI’s Chief Financial Officer Chun Tae Heung.
Tankers, bulk ships and smaller container vessels might in the future be built in Malaysia, Indonesia or Vietnam, Chun said.
SHI is trying to move the production of lower-margin vessels abroad in an effort to cut costs, while reserving domestic operations for building oil-exploration products and larger ships.
The shift of attention towards overseas options is in line with the latest merger within the Samsung Group which was carried out to enable SHI to compete successfully with its European rivals Saipem SpA (SPM) and Technip SA. (TEC).
”We believe there will be demand for offshore oil and gas projects in the long term. We want to make room at our shipyard in Korea to focus more on offshore and building higher-value ships. Samsung Heavy expects to finalize the plan on the overseas yard as early as this year,” Chun said.
