AsiaShipyards

Hyundai Heavy to be split up

Shareholders of Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), South Korea’s top shipyard, have approved a restructuring plan whereby the conglomerate will be split up. The decision comes against a backdrop of severe employee dissatisfaction with a third day of strikes hitting the yard.

The company will now be split into four different affiliates: shipbuilding, electronics, construction equipment and robotics.

HHI, like many other Korean yards, has been hit hard by the fall in oil prices leading to many offshore contracts being scrapped while demand for commercial ships remains anemic. HHI has laid off thousands of workers in the past year, with more likely to be let go in 2017.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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