Japan’s shipowners Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) have separately reached a deal with Chubu Electric Power Company to jointly own a new LNG carrier each. One of the LNG carrier owning companies Trans Pacific Shipping 2 Ltd (TPS2), a 50-50 joint venture between MOL and Mitsubishi Corporation, will see MOL transfer 30% of its stake and Mitsubishi 10% for Chubu Electric to own 40% share. Another LNG carrier owning company Trans Pacific 1 Ltd (TPS1) will be 40% owned by...

South Korean shipbuilding giant Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has secured an order for the construction of two 84,000-ton liquefied natural gas carriers, worth a total of $160 million, Yonhap cited Daewoo as saying. Daewoo did not want to reveal the name of the company that ordered the vessels on the grounds of a previously signed confidentiality agreement, however the buyer is said to be an Asian shipping company. The carriers are scheduled to join their owner’s flee...

Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the world’s largest shipbuilder, could face difficult wage bargaining this year after its labor union requested its highest pay raise in the past 12 years.Through its in-house paper, the union revealed its annual wage increase proposal of 132,013 won ($126.94) on its monthly base pay. It is the largest wage increase request since 2002 when the union asked for a 138,912 won hike.The proposal is a big hike compared with recent years. In 2012, the union asked for 111...

Viet Nam’s shipbuilding industry has grown 25-30% annually for the past decade in all areas. Do Duc Tien, deputy director of the Viet Nam Maritime Administration, made the statement at the seminar ‘Viet Nam Shipbuilding Industry – New Stage of Development’ held in Ha Noi. Viet Nam’s Marine Strategy to 2020 states that the shipbuilding industry is one of the two key pillars of the marine economy, which is expected to make the second largest contribution to t...