The South Korean government has tried to intervene in an ongoing, highly damaging strike which has seen subcontractors occupy the largest drydock at shipbuilding major Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) since the beginning of June.
The prime minister, Han Duck-soo, as well as labour and industry ministers yesterday called for an end to the strike, which is estimated to have already set DSME back by more $400m.
“Because of the sitdown strike at (DSME’s) dock, production and delivery of three vessels is being stalled,” Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang said Thursday in a press conference.
DSME’s production schedule has been severely hampered by the six-week long strike.
DSME, which has been under state control since coming close to bankruptcy in the middle of the last decade, is once again facing a capital squeeze, admitting last week its debt ratio increased to 547% by the end of the first quarter because of a number of issues, including the cancellation of Russian ship orders, soaring raw material price increases and the ongoing strike.
CEO Park Doo-sun said the yard, one of the world’s largest, was entering an emergency period.
