Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. () is one of the largest
shipbuilders in the world and one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea (including
Hyundai and
Hanwha). Geoje (in
South Gyeongsang Province) is one of the largest shipyards in the world, having 3
dry docks
Dry or dryness most often refers to:
* Rain#Deserts, Lack of rainfall, which may refer to
**Arid regions
**Drought
* Dry or dry area, relating to legal prohibition of selling, serving, or imbibing alcoholic beverages
* Dry humor, deadpan
* Drynes ...
and 5
floating docks. A core subsidiary of the
Samsung Group, South Korea's largest
conglomerate, SHI's main focus is on the engineering,
procurement
Procurement is the process of locating and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. The term may also refer to a contractual ...
,
construction
Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...
,
commissioning and the delivery of: transportation ships for the
commercial industry,
topsides modules, drilling and
floating production units for the oil and gas sector,
gantry cranes for fabrication yards, digital instrumentation and control devices for ships, and other construction and engineering services.
SHI operates manufacturing facilities at home and abroad, including ship block fabrication factories in
Ningbo and
Rongcheng,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. The Geoje Shipyard in particular, SHI's largest shipyard in South Korea, boasts the highest dock
turnover rate in the world. The largest of the three docks, Dock No. 3, is long, wide, and deep. Mostly ultra-large ships are built at this dock, having the world's highest production efficiency with yearly dock turnover rate of 10 and the launch of 30 ships per year.
SHI specializes in the building of high added-value and special purpose vessels, including
LNG carriers, off-shore related vessels, oil drilling ships, FPSO/FSO's, ultra large container ships such as ''
Xin Beijing'' (2007), and Arctic shuttle tankers. In recent times SHI has concentrated on LNG tankers and drillships. It has manufacturing centers in
Rongcheng and
Ningbo in China and a design center in
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
History
Samsung Heavy Industries was established in 1974, when the company's
Changwon
Changwon (; ) is the capital and largest city of South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea (with a population of 1,025,702 ), and the 11th largest city of the South Korea, country. A port city, Changwon is bordered by Masan Bay to the south, and the ...
plant was opened. SHI soon purchased
Woojin, followed by the construction of
Geoje shipbuilding facilities and merger with Daesung Heavy Industries.
Samsung Shipbuilding and Daesung Heavy Industries were merged under Samsung Heavy Industries in 1983. Since then, it has put efforts in the introduction of new technologies and development of products, while expanding the business area into heavy equipment and construction.
Since the 21st century, SHI began to build LNG and large passenger ships in earnest, and exported shipbuilding technologies to the United States. Samsung Heavy Industries decided to advance into the cruise ship market, the last remaining stronghold of EU shipbuilders. The company stated entering the undertaking was necessary to maintain its number one position in the global shipbuilding market. In 2009, SHI was contracted to build a new residential cruise ship named
Utopia, which will be the largest passenger ship ever assembled in Asia. The ship will test the waters by 2016.
Vehicle production
Starting in the late 1980s, SHI produced
forklifts and
heavy equipment (mainly
excavator
Excavators are heavy equipment (construction), heavy construction equipment primarily consisting of a backhoe, boom, dipper (or stick), Bucket (machine part), bucket, and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house".
The modern excavator's ...
s) at Changwon.
The forklift production was established through agreements with
Clark Material Handling Company (production started in 1986) and the heavy equipment production came from the construction equipment division of Korea's Heavy Industries and Construction, acquired by Samsung in 1983 (SHI began manufacturing heavy equipment in 1987).
[ Truck production was added in May 1993.] The company also assembled electric car prototypes. The truck production business was spun off in 1996 as a separate company called Samsung Commercial Vehicles. The forklift and heavy equipment businesses were sold off in 1998.[
]
Wind turbine manufacture
Samsung Heavy Industries has been involved in wind turbine manufacture including the S7.0-171 turbine, which in 2013 was the world's largest wind turbine. It is still one of the most powerful turbines on Earth.
See also
* Economy of South Korea
* List of Korean companies
* List of shipbuilders and shipyards
* Seocho Samsung Town
* Samsung Heavy Industries Rugby Club
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Heavy Industries
Shipbuilding companies of South Korea
Wind turbine manufacturers
Manufacturing companies based in Seoul
Manufacturing companies established in 1974
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1974
South Korean companies established in 1974
Companies listed on the Korea Exchange
Companies in the KOSPI 200
South Korean brands