Amid straitened times on home soil Korean mega yard Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has canned long held plans to open a shipyard in Southeast Asia.
SHI said yesterday in a statement: “We were examining the establishment of a yard in Southeast Asia. But the recent situation in the market and our operations, we have decided not to pursue this plan.”
SHI has been rocked by plenty of offshore-related cancellations this year. It had been scouring Southeast Asia for the past five years for possible expansion, having site tours to Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia. SHI does have an overseas yard, in Ningbo, China, which has recently switched from being a block builder to become a fully fledged shipbuilder, taking orders for product carriers and smaller bulkers.