Hanwha Ocean's annual operating profit topped 1 trillion won for the first time in seven years. A sharp increase in deliveries of high value-added vessels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers is cited as the reason for the improved results.
Hanwha Ocean said on the 4th that, on a consolidation basis last year, sales came to 12.6884 trillion won and operating profit to 1.1091 trillion won. Compared with a year earlier, sales rose 17.7% and operating profit jumped 366.2%. Net profit during the same period increased 122% to 1.1727 trillion won.
The standout improvement came as the sales share of LNG carriers, which are expensive and have high profitability, increased. Hanwha Ocean's LNG carrier deliveries rose from 11 ships in 2024 to 22 ships last year. Container ship deliveries increased from 12 ships to 13 ships over the same period. As of the fourth quarter last year, LNG carriers accounted for the largest share of revenue by vessel type at 65%.
Shedding most of the low-priced orders received in 2022 and beginning construction of higher-priced orders received in 2024 also contributed to the earnings improvement. In the special ship division, sales increased as production proceeded on the Jangbogo-III Batch-II submarines Nos. 1, 2 and 3.
A Hanwha Ocean official said, "The profit increased sharply from a year earlier as a shift to profitability-focused products, productivity gains and continued cost-cutting efforts came together."
The shipbuilding industry expects Hanwha Ocean's improving trend to continue this year. The price of LNG carriers is projected to rise from $240 million (about 348.2 billion won) in the fourth quarter last year to $246 million (about 356.9 billion won) in the fourth quarter this year.
Orders are also expected to increase. With the expansion of liquefaction plants in the United States, orders for LNG carriers are highly likely to grow, and demand for tankers is seen to remain solid. Hanwha Ocean won a total of $10.05 billion (14.5825 trillion won) worth of projects last year, including 13 LNG carriers, 20 very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and 17 container ships. That was up 11.9% from the previous year.
In the offshore plant division, the company is pursuing orders for floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) projects such as Petrobras' P-86 and P-91 and TotalEnergies' Venus project.