South Korea Shipbuilding
Ulsan shipyard, one of the world's largest
Courtesy Hyundai Corporation
During the 1970s and 1980s, South Korea became a leading
producer of ships, including oil supertankers, and oil-drilling
platforms. The country's major shipbuilder was Hyundai, which
built a 1-million-ton capacity drydock at Ulsan in the mid-1970s.
Daewoo joined the shipbuilding industry in 1980 and finished a
1.2-million-ton facility at Okp'o on Koje Island, south of Pusan,
in mid-1981. The industry declined in the mid-1980s because of
the oil glut and because of a worldwide recession. There was a
sharp decrease in new orders in the late 1980s; new orders for
1988 totaled 3 million gross tons valued at US$1.9 billion,
decreases from the previous year of 17.8 percent and 4.4 percent,
respectively. These declines were caused by labor unrest, Seoul's
unwillingness to provide financial assistance, and Tokyo's new
low-interest export financing in support of Japanese
shipbuilders. However, the South Korean shipping industry was
expected to expand in the early 1990s because older ships in
world fleets needed replacing.
Data as of June 1990
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