Achieving environment-friendly business through crude oil carriers
Samsung Heavy Industries has also been focusing on enhancing the quality of its crude oil tankers, which are designed to conform to all regulations and rules relating to sea pollution, while working to increase the scale of their productivity.
In 2007, SHI successfully delivered an arctic shuttle tanker which can navigate through arctic sea weighing 70,000 tons that breaks ice at a speed of 2.8 knots, which was highly recognized as a technological development.
Bi-Directional Arctic Shuttle Tanker Opens a NEW Chapter in the History of Arctic Oil Transportation
Arctic shuttle tankers are new-concept ships that are developed to maximize the efficiency of oil transportation in arctic regions. In 2007, Samsung Heavy Industries built its bi-directional arctic shuttle tanker, which can move both forwards and backwards, a world first.
The ship moves forward by breaking ice like an ordinary icebreaker, but can rotate its motor 180 degrees, which enables it to move backward when it is caught in icebergs. It is a high-value ship, which sells for a price more than triple that of ordinary shuttle tankers of the same size class.
Samsung Heavy Industries is focused on the development of new ships for arctic regions and complex ships requiring advanced technology such as arctic shuttle tankers, based on the shipbuilding technology it has accumulated over the years.
Leading the very large container ship market
In 1999, Samsung Heavy Industries developed a 6,200 TEU container ship, which was a world first at a time when 5,000 TEU ships were the norm. 7,700 TEU, 8,100 TEU, and 9,600 TEU ships followed soon afterwards. In 2006, SHI received an order to build a 13,300 TEU ship, the world's largest container ship ever. Now, SHI is marketing 16,000TEU class containerships completing the design.
In terms of shipbuilding performance, Samsung Heavy Industries was the first shipbuilder to construct 8,500-TEU, 9,200-TEU and 9,600-TEU container ships, and took the lead in the large container shipbuilding sector by building the world’s largest 13,800-TEU container ship in 2008.
Developing an electrically-propelled LNG carrier, to improve economical efficiency
LNG carriers are designed for the transport of liquefied natural gas. When transporting natural gas, the gas is cooled to a temperature of -163 degrees Celsius. LNG carriers are high value-added ships. A LNG carrier stores LNG within the specially structured cargo holds equipped with various devices to keep the temperature at very low degrees.
As of December 2009, Samsung Heavy Industries has received orders for a total of 78 LNG carriers, 56 of which it has already delivered. The company is an industry leader that has maintained the dominant position, which the remaining orders for 25 LNG carriers attest to.
In 2001, it developed electrically-powered LNG carriers, which are next-generation LNG carriers with excellent operation functions and fuel efficiency. In 2009, SHI produced the world's first eco-friendly LNG shuttle and regasification vessel (SRV), which combines an LNG carrier and an LNG undertaking base. The company also successfully built the world's largest LNG carriers, spanning 266,000m3, in 2008 and 2009, demonstrating its advanced technology to the world.
The company has also led development of new-concept ships such as arctic LNG icebreakers and LNG-FSRU for the liquefaction and storage of LNG of importing countries.
Preparing for the future
Cruise ships are considered as the most highly value-added ships in the shipbuilding market, requiring high level of building technologies and massive amounts of capital. They are also the next core ships to lead the growth of Korea's shipbuilding industry. Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) is preparing step by step to make inroads into the cruise ship market by accumulating experience and expertise in the construction of large passenger ships.
Thus far, SHI has constructed three passenger ships weighing 28,000 tons for Minoan (Greece), and three 35,000-ton high-speed passenger ships for Norfolk (Netherlands). It also won an order from Stena (Sweden) for two 31,000-ton passenger ships. With these orders, SHI is laying a firm foundation to make inroads into the cruise ship market.
In addition, the Company has led the development of differentiated ships by becoming the first Korean company to develop eco-friendly passenger ships that use LNG as fuel. These ships achieve more than 90% reductions of nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide emissions during operation.
In November 2009, SHI developed a new-concept ship called the "Apartment-Type Cruise Ship," which represents the summation of all of its shipbuilding and construction techniques, and was selected as the exclusive winner of the bid for USD 1.1 billion cruise shipbuilding project by Utopia, a US cruise shipper. This achievement enabled SHI to become the first Korean shipbuilder to advance into the cruise ship market, which has traditionally been dominated by European shipbuilders.
