Korean Shipbuilders Book Orders for First Quarter

According to sources, South Korean shipbuilders racked up large overseas orders in the first quarter, keeping them on course to exceed yearly targets, industry sources said Sunday. Hyundai Heavy Industries clinched orders worth $2.3 billion in the January-March period, compared with its full-year target of $7.4 billion. Its two affiliates _ Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries _ won a combined $2.75 billion worth of orders in the first quarter. The three shipbuilders aim to garner orders worth $12.5 billion for all of 2006. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, the world's No. 2 shipbuilder, posted orders worth $4.5 billion in the first quarter, or 45 percent of its yearly target of $10 billion. Samsung Heavy Industries Co., the third-largest shipbuilder in the world, won $3.4 billion worth of orders over the same period, or 44 percent of its full-year goal of $7.7 billion.