STX Shipbuilding, Daewoo win contracts to build 13 mega Ships

The world's largest shipbuilders have recently won contracts to build 13 new containerships.

STX Shipbuilding Co., the world's seventh-largest shipbuilder, said it had landed a US$1.5 billion contract from a Greek shipping company to build nine 12,400-TEU ships to be delivered in late 2011, reported The Korean Times.

South Korea's STX said in a statement that the deal marks the first time it has been commissioned to build ships of 10,000 TEU or larger.

"The contract has paved the way for STX to develop into a large shipyard that can manufacture high-end ships," the company said. "We will expand into such areas as very large crude carriers, icebreakers and cruise ships."

So far this year STX shipbuilding has landed orders worth $7.2 billion in total. Consequently, the company has raised its sales target for 2007 to $10 billion from an earlier projection of $5.5 billion. Last year, it won orders worth $4 billion, the report said.

Separately, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., the world's third-largest shipbuilder, has struck a deal with an unidentified German company to build four 8,400-TEU container vessels valued at US$485.38 million, reported The Toronto Star with deliveries set for the end July 2010.