South Korea's maiden container voyage testing Arctic waters has successfully arrived in Rotterdam, raising hopes that the Northern Sea Route could sharply shorten cargo voyages between Asia and Europe. The journey of the PanStar Acro is only halfway over, and the harder challenge is the return leg and whether the Arctic option is commercially viable. The 2,758-TEU container ship arrived in Rotterdam on Sunday, 22 days after departing Busan on Aug.

South Korea has begun construction of a next-generation icebreaking research vessel designed to expand the country’s access to the high Arctic and strengthen research capabilities along emerging Arctic shipping routes. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said Friday that a keel-laying ceremony for the new vessel was being held at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje shipyard in South Gyeongsang Province, with around 40 officials from the ministry, Korea Pola

Hanwha Ocean has been selected as the preferred bidder for a frigate project for the Royal Thai Navy, after beating defense companies from Spain, Singapore and Turkey, the shipbuilder said on Wednesday. The project, worth 16.73 billion baht (US$509 million), covers the construction of a 4,000-ton-class frigate, along with related equipment and integrated maintenance and logistics support. The selection of Hanwha Ocean as the preferred bidder allows the

Russia has shipped the first crude oil from its Vostok Oil project through the Arctic, highlighting Moscow's push to expand the Northern Sea Route just as South Korea conducts its first trial voyage by a container ship along the same corridor. The first batch of crude from Vostok Oil, a major development project in Russia's Arctic Taimyr region, was loaded Friday at a newly built terminal in Sever Bay onto the ice-class tanker Valentin Pikul, acco

Hanwha Ocean has secured an additional order from a Taiwanese shipping company to build six liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered container ships, according to industry sources on Thursday. The order worth 1.55 trillion won (US$1.1 billion) is for six 13,650-TEU LNG dual-fuel container ships, bringing its total orders from Taiwan's Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation to 13. The newly ordered ships will be equipped with fuel tanks made using Hanwh

A tanker struck by rockets in the Strait of Hormuz was not owned by South Korea's Sinokor Merchant Marine and had no Korean crew aboard, a South Korean shipping industry group said Wednesday, disputing an earlier Financial Times report that described the vessel as South Korean-owned. The Korea Shipowners' Association said in a statement that the Senegal Prosperity, which was recently attacked while transiting the strategic waterway, was wholly ow

Samsung Heavy Industries has secured an additional order for two container ships, the shipbuilder said on Monday. According to the shipbuilder, it signed a contract with an Africa-based shipping company to build two container ships worth 444.5 billion won (US$324 million), with the vessels scheduled for delivery in stages by December 2028. With the latest deal, the company’s merchant ship orders this year rose to 36 vessels worth $6.1 billion, s

K Shipbuilding has signed new contracts with shipowners based in Europe and the Middle East to build six carriers for petrochemical products, the midsize shipbuilder said on Wednesday. It said the order, worth about 510 billion won includes two 50,000-ton vessels and four 74,000-ton vessels. They will be built at K Shipbuilding's shipyard in Jinhae, Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, and delivered gradually starting in the first half of 2028. The

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering has won a contract from an Oceania-based shipping company to build four liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers, it said on Monday. Under the deal, worth 515.4 billion won, equivalent to 2.93 percent of the company's annual revenue, the vessels will be built by its affiliate HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and delivered by the first half of 2030. With the latest order, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore En