STX Group Undaunted by Economic Crisis

Its wide-range of business areas including military vessel construction keeps it afloat despite global crunch

STX Group has grown to be the only global total shipbuilding group with its shipbuilding yards in Europe, Korea and China turning out various kinds of ships from commercial and passenger carriers to marine plants and war ships, the four major sectors of shipbuilding.
The "all kinds of ships"portfolio built by the STX Group shines further during a time of economic crisis, like the one the world is in now, with reduced orders and cargoes, as the defense and plant construction sectors are still sound with orders for new war ships and plants continuing to come in, sustaining the group's competitive edge and growth.
The current economic slowdown has reduced orders for new container vessels, tankers and bulk carriers among other commercial vessels, causing domestic shipyards to suffer from the lack of new orders for ships, but STX got orders for marine experimental ships, a helicopter carrier for the French government, and three ice breakers for Kazakhstan.
STX Group is proud of the fact that it has companies to produce ship parts, ship engines and ships, a total integrated shipbuilding system, in fact. It is a system that can maximize synergy effects as affiliates of the group can produce shipbuilding materials, ship engines and entire ships as professionals in their respective areas.
STX Enpaco, whose shares were listed on the stock exchange, produces crankshafts, turbo chargers and other key parts for ship engines, which are being used by STX Engine and STX Heavy Industry. STX Shipbuilding and Marine assembles ship blocs, STX Engine produces deckhouses and STX Heavy Industry builds ships.
With the group's affiliates upgrading the R&D on technology and production effects, the group came to have first-class commodities, enhancing its competitive position.
STX Group is very proud of the fact that it has been able to own and operate global production bases, not before seen in the history of shipbuilding, making it immune to the current economic slump sweeping the world.
Cruise ships, which made STX Europe (formerly Aker Yards) famous around the world, still a new sector for the domestic shipbuilder, is considered a new growth engine for the STX Group. STX Europe also has the technologies to build LNG tankers and ice breakers. STX plans to further upgrade STX Europe's technologies for the construction of cruisers and use them to create and maximize synergies with other STX affiliates including STX Shipbuilding.
STX Dairen shipyard in China, with an area of 5.5 million square meters, is the first overseas shipyard built by the group and will be part of the group's core global production network. The Dairen shipyard has all the production processes needed to build ships and is expected to make a great contribution to enhancing the group's competitive position. The shipyard in China is designed to build bulk carriers, and Ro/Ro ships, among others, and delivered its first half last year, after launching ship production in April 2007.
The group's Jinhae dockyard will be used to build large vessels and also has a base for R&D activities. STX Shipbuilding and Marine has been building a 173,000 CBM class LNG tanker, 13,000 TEU container vessel and large oil tankers (VLCC), all high value-added ships. The shipyard was the first in the world to develop technologies to build container vessels larger than 20,000 TEU, showing off to the world the Korean shipyards'technological prowess.
STX Shipbuilding has also been very successful in the area of marine plant construction starting with the pipe laying vessel for $200 million in 2007, four drill ships from Noble Co. for $1.2 billion and a FSU worth $500 million in 2008, showing the shipyard has done well, although it entered the shipbuilding business only two years ago.
STX Group has now grown large enough to seek its future growth engines overseas, not development projects, but the development-type projects, especially in partnership with others, taking advantage of its global production bases and its competitive edge, The group plans to employ local contents as much as possible to increase its chances to win projects when projects are to be won from governments or government-run businesses in foreign countries.
The group also plans to expand cooperative relations with rival foreign firms in such areas as design and the joint purchase of materials to upgrade technologies and reduce the costs of materials. nw

Chairman Kang Duk-soo makes a speech at a recent meeting at a STX shipyard.

STX Group is the sole global total shipbuilding group with shipbuilding yards in Europe, Korea and China. (clockwise) STX Shipbuilding's Jinhae dockyard,; STX Group headquarters in Seoul,; and STX Shipbuilding is now able to build cruise ships, like one seen in this photo after it took over Aker Yards in Norway, the largest builder of passenger and military vessels in Europe and also one of the three largest cruise shipbuilding yards in Europe.