"Love Business Tour"

MOCIE Minister Chung makes tours to create business-friendly environment to spur facility investment

The shipbuilding industry has renewed the record of new shipbuilding orders as of the Q3 this year by clinching $12.4 billion worth of new orders, a report by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said Nov. 2. The orders include those for 24 10,000 TEU container vessels, up 142.5 percent from the same period last year in volume totaling 5.97 million tons or 152 vessels. In terms of value, the orders are up 106.4 percent with the industry turning out 78 new vessels, or 2.78 million tons, up 19.8 percent from the same period last year.
The report said the enviable record was possible due to a number of reasons including stable labor relations and high productivity, among others, with the shipyards turning out more than 2 million tons of new vessels in each quarter this year so far. Backlog of orders totaled 42.9 million tons up 18.2 percent or $90.3 billion in value, large enough to last for three and half years.
he report said the upswing in ship orders in the Q3 has been due to owners of container shipping operations unleashing orders ending their waiting period from the Q3 last year and the move by the Korean shipyards to build bigger container vessels and LNG tankers. The Korean shipyards led the world by clinching the largest orders for container vessels bigger than 10,000 TEUs with 24 of them, along with the lead in the orders booked for LNG tankers. Hyundai Heavy led the field by bagging 8 11,400 TEU container vessels, followed by Samsung Heavy with 11 10,000 TEU and Samho Heavy with 5 10,000 TEU container vessels.
The Korean shipyards have been able to achieve their record ship orders with improved shipbuilding technology, which pushed up productivity including the floating dock technology employed by Samsung Heavy and Daewoo Shipbuilding and the land dock operation undertaken by Hyundai Heavy and STX Shipbuilding.
Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Chung Sye-kyun toured a number of shipyards to gather ideas for drafting government support to the industry.
He talked with executives and workers at the shipyards he visited during his tour started from Oct. 12 to see how they are being run by listening to those at the work sites directly.
At a briefing session he had with heads of small-and medium firms, he discussed the ways to secure further developed technology in the LNG tanker building sector and boosting the competitive edge for futuristic commodities, marine offshore platforms. The minister pledged government support when he heard from the president of an SME, the situation at his company in the middle of the development of key parts for LNG tankers under the assistance of the government.
The MOCIE minister toured the Daewoo CIT plant, whose annual revenue has been growing 20 percent in cooperation with large business firms in the area of capital, technology and manpower and watched the automated production system at the plant.
He also paid a visit to dry docks at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering on Geoje Island open 24 hours a day to build LNG tankers and marine platforms and met with heads of the shipyard's cooperative firms and shipyard workers. At the end of June, Korean shipyards won 106 LNG tanker orders(73 percent) out of 145 LNG tankers ordered around the world.
Minister Chung has been making tours of business firms to put into practice his idea that one can only get a true picture of the business communities by visiting the companies, especially their plants and talk with their employees at the jobsites. He has been paying calls on major business firms in the country under the catchphrase of a "Great March to Enliven Sprit of Enterprises,"in light of economic conditions at home and abroad.
He is scheduled to visit Ulsan, Incheon, Cheonan, Daejeon, Pyeongchang, Dangjin, Yeosu, Mokpo, and Daegu, following his visit to Geoje Island. He will hold talks with local business leaders and industry people to find out problems that don't usually appear in data and statistics and find solutions that can be reflected in government policies. Another purpose of his tour is to create a friendly environment for businesses in societies across the country. The MOCIE plans to expand the "Love Business Campaign"now held in six wide-area cities to 16 wide-area cities across the country and hold the first Love Business Council All Country Network conference in the middle of November in Daegu.
The MOCIE and provisional governments will cooperate to create an environment conducive to business investments by resolving problems in the way of making corporate facility investments. nw

(from Left) MOCIE Minister Chung Sye-kyun, 3rd L, on a tour of Daewoo shipyard on Geoje island, South Gyeongsang Province. An LPG tanker built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co.

DSME President Nam Sang-tae.