Monday, April 21, 2008
A Korean shipbuilder has succeeded in independently designing a liquefied natural gas carrier. Building LNG ships is a high value-added business, as it requires the highest level of shipbuilding technology. The latest achievement should significantly lower the royalties that Korean companies have had to pay to countries that developed such technology. Hyundai Heavy Industries said that Russia plans to purchase an LNG ship built with Korean design technology in May. Although Korea dominates global LNG carrier orders, it has been dependent on foreign companies that own the core technology needed to design the ships. Korean shipbuilders have paid Gaz Transport & Technigaz (GTT) of France more than W1 trillion (US$1=W1,000) in royalties over the last five years for the technology. In order to stop paying such high royalties, Korea's shipbuilding industry began developing its own design technology for LNG vessels in 2004. It succeeded in doing so last year and received an actual order from Russia this year. The industry anticipates that the success will generate more than W6 trillion in benefits. Source: Chosun
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