South Korea’s large shipbuilder, HD Hyundai, celebrated on Wednesday the delivery of its 5,000th vessel, highlighting the company’s leadership in the international shipbuilding industry.
HD Hyundai has become the first shipbuilding group in the world to deliver 5,000 vessels, achieving the milestone just 51 years after the delivery of its first ship, the company announced on Wednesday.
It held a ceremony in Ulsan on Wednesday, November 19, to celebrate the milestone attended by the company’s chairman Chung Kisun (among others), as well as government and industry figures.
According to the company, the milestone vessel was the patrol corvette Diego Silang built for the Philippine Navy and delivered in October.
The delivery comes half a century after the yard delivered its first ship in 1974.
HD Hyundai has delivered ships to more than 700 shipowners in 68 countries, starting from the 260,000-ton supertanker Atlantic Baron in 1974, to the Philippine patrol corvette Diego Silang.
Specifically, 2,631 ships were delivered from HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, 1,570 from HD Hyundai Mipo and 799 from HD Hyundai Samho.
The South Korean shipbuilder has emphasized that Europe and Japan, countries with much longer shipbuilding histories than Korea, have not achieved a similar record.
“Our 5,000-vessel milestone represents the pride of Korea’s shipbuilding industry and the history of challenges that have reshaped the global maritime paradigm,” said HD Hyundai chairman Chung Kisun.
“Based on the history of the challenges we created together, we will move forward vigorously towards the next 5,000 ships and another half century,” he said.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), founded by the late Chung Ju-yung on March 23, 1972, wrote the first chapter of its shipbuilding history in June 1974 by completing construction one of the world’s largest shipyards and two 260,000-dwt VLCCs all at the same time.
