[Click eStock] "Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Nears Consecutive Large Orders for LPG Propulsion Ships"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jihwan] Hana Financial Investment evaluated on the 28th that Hyundai Mipo Dockyard is on the verge of securing a large volume of consecutive LPG-powered ship orders, and its market share is continuously increasing in markets where new technologies are applied, so its stock valuation should receive a premium. Accordingly, the investment opinion 'Buy' is maintained, and the target price was raised by 11.11% from the previous 45,000 KRW to 50,000 KRW.

Park Muhyun, a researcher at Hana Financial Investment, stated, "As soon as the news of the LPG-powered ship charter contract with the Singaporean shipping company Eastern Pacific Shipping came out, the Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina is preparing a large order for 22K-class LPG-powered ships," and predicted, "The official contract news for these ships is expected within a week."

According to Hana Financial Investment, the competition for Pertamina's ship orders was between Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and China's Jiangnan Shipyard. Chinese shipyards are currently experiencing construction delays of 3 to 6 months, so unless China provides financing, overseas shipowners have no reason to choose Chinese shipyards. The recent order of 16 LNG carriers by Chinese shipyards from Qatar was also due to China providing ship financing.

Researcher Park Muhyun explained, "It is expected that Hyundai Mipo Dockyard will also secure the LPG-powered ship order contract from the Indonesian shipowner," and added, "We anticipate news of Hyundai Mipo Dockyard's consecutive orders soon."

Currently, ship fuels are shifting to LNG and LPG. Scrubbers are banned from entering ports in more than 20 major countries, and the use of high-sulfur fuel oil causes serious damage to propulsion engines. For these reasons, at Rotterdam, the largest port in Europe, the sales volume of LNG ship fuel is rapidly increasing, and there is a growing movement to replace bunker C fuel with LPG as propulsion fuel for LPG ships.

Researcher Park stated, "The main ship type of Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, the 20-45K class LPG ships, has a global order backlog of only 11 vessels, and among 199 secondhand ships, the proportion of aged vessels over 16 years will rise to 36% by 2024," adding, "Japanese shipyards, which have traditionally been strong in LPG ships, are unable to keep up with propulsion engine technology changes, so Hyundai Mipo Dockyard is expected to dominate the medium-sized LPG ship order market."