STX Offshore & Shipbuilding officially filed an application in Seoul for court receivership late on Friday. The court will now decide whether to liquidate the yard or give it a shot at restructuring.
The shipbuilder said it had debts of $600m. Its orderbook stretches through to mid-2017. Creditors have pumped more than $3bn into the yard over the past three years.
A subsidiary, Goseong Offshore & Shipbuilding, is expected to head for court receivership early next month too.
Speaking to the Maeil Business Newspaper over the weekend, Lee Byung-mo, ceo of STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, urged Korean yards to collaborate more in order to survive.
“The local shipbuilding industry grew too fast over a short period of time. Manpower was not sufficiently skilled and oversight was lax,” Lee said.
All of South Korea’s largest shipyards are now going through restructuring while a number of smaller ones have folded amidst a huge downturn in ordering activity.
Lee is only looking to pass the blame to the workforce.
a full order book for yrs . ??
no corruption at the highest level in their management.