Hyundai Heavy Industries Eyes USD 15.9bln Order for 2019

South Korea's shipbuilding giant Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has set a 2019 shipbuilding total sales target of USD15.9 billion.

According to the Yonhap News Agency, this is a 20.7 percent increase on last year's target of $13.2 billion. The group - including HHI, Hyundai Samho Heavy and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard - won $13.7 billion worth of deals in 2018.

Yonhap said that HHI vowed to win deals worth $8 billion in the shipbuilding segment, followed by Hyundai Samho Heavy and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard with $4.3 billion and $3.5 billion, respectively.

The co-CEOs of Hyundai Heavy Industries said the company will continue making efforts to cut production costs to maintain profitability and return to profit this year.

“As the supply surplus still exists, the number of new orders for ships is limited. Accordingly, we expect hurdles in increasing the cost of ships,” the company said in a statement.

Hyundai Heavy Industries added it will seek to cut production costs by adopting the latest technologies to improve productivity, purchasing materials under detailed plans and speeding up construction time.