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Hyundai Engineering & Construction Wins $300 Million Order to Build Doha New Port Facilities

Hyundai Engineering & Construction (HDEC) on August 13 that had won a US$301-million order to build a new port at Qatar's Doha jointly with the Middle East unit of the Netherlands' Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. and Brazil's Construtora OAS.Commissioned by the Qatari New Port Project Steering Committee.

The latest project calls for building berths for small- and medium-sized vessels and connecting passageways in the QEZ3 section of No. 3 economic zone.

The company, whose share of the order is $186 million, will complete the construction in 30 months after the work begin.

Hyundai (HDEC) has been active in Qatar since it entered the market in 1978 when it built the Sheraton Doha Resort & Convention Hotel.

Lately it succeeded in landing a total of 17 deals worth $7,583 million, including the Ras Laffan combined cycle power plant project in 2009, the 2010 Heart of Doha phase 1 project to rebuild the city center, the 2011 Qatar National Museum project, and the Lusail Expressway project in 2012.

A Hyundai Engineering & Construction (HDEC) official said, "We could clinch the port construction deal thanks to the good relationship we have maintained with the Qatari government through previous large-scale projects.

We will keep working hard to win more infrastructure projects that the government is commissioning ahead of the 2022 World Cup Games."

Korea Times

Hyundai Heavy to sell $270 million Solar cell module plant

This file photo shows solar panels set up by Hyundai Heavy Industries in El Bonillo, Spain in 2007. Hyundai is in talks with POSCO and SK Energy to sell one of its domestic solar plants as part of a restructuring plan for the solar business amid the industry's prolonged downturn. / Korea Times file

World's largest shipbuilder in talks with SK, POSCO about sale of $270 mil. plant

The prolonged downturn in the global solar market is proving too much for Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), Korea's biggest solar business operator, to endure.

HHI has decided to vastly restructure its solar business after scrapping plans to build two solar photovoltaic power plants roughly valued at $700 million in Arizona, the United States, said Hyundai officials.

``The market demand is way below expectations. The feasibility is lost,'' a source told The Korea Times, Tuesday.

The restructuring will come after the shipbuilder has already downsized its investment by over 40 percent.

Part of the restructuring involves a discounted sale of a production facility for crystalline silicon, a raw material for solar cells.

``Hyundai is talking to SK Energy and POSCO, separately, about selling its equipment for crystalline silicon production including module plants located in Eumseong, a provincial city southwest of Seoul. The so-called `No. 1' there are worth about $270 million,'' said the source, asking not to be named.

Chipmaker SK-Hynix is interested because of the duality of the involved technology as solar-cell manufacturing technology is pretty much the same as making semiconductors.

``POSCO Chairman Chung Joon-yang met with HHI executives to discuss the purchase,'' said the source. A spokesman from POSCO wasn't available for comment, while SK Energy representatives declined to confirm this.

Hyundai has three solar panel plants in Eumseong with a combined capacity reaching 600 megawatts. HHI had launched the renewable energy division as a new growth engine.

Park Joon-soo, a PR official for HHI, said that the No. 1 factory has been closed with the utilization rates of the No. 2 and No. 3 plants at 50 percent as of the end of January this year.

``The restructuring is inevitable because of low profits,'' Park said by telephone.

HHI is the latest Korean technology giant to restructure its solar business. Affiliates of Samsung Group and LG Group are also downsizing their solar divisions.

``The market for crystalline silicon-based solar cells is dominated by Chinese companies. It's difficult for Koreans to penetrate,'' he said.

The global solar business will see a consolidation that's already taking place in the global memory chip sector. HHI's decision to restructure its solar business is welcomed by stock investors.

But it's very unlikely that the firm will completely fold its solar business as the shipbuilder is still investing in the more profitable and advanced solar technology of thin film.

``HHI will continue strengthening capabilities in thin-film solar assets to put the ailing solar business on the right track in the shortest time,'' according to Park said.

He said the project to build another solar panel facility to produce thin film-based solar panels is still effective despite the ongoing bearish market.

HHI had entered a joint venture with French company Saint-Gobain to launch Hyundai Avancis in Ochang, North Chungcheong Province, to manufacture crystalline silicon-based solar panels in South Korea.

By Kim Yoo-chul yckim@koreatimes.co.kr

Korea Times

Hyundai Heavy Clinches $3.3 Billion Deal to Build Thermal Power Plant in Saudi Arabia

South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) won a $3.3 billion order to build a steam power plant in Saudi Arabia.

Under the deal signed with Saudi Electricity Co., Hyundai will complete the massive facility with a production capacity of 2,640 megawatts by 2017 thermal power plant on a turnkey basis taking responsibility for all processes from design to equipment manufacturing and supply, construction, and pilot operation.

The plant will be located 135 kilometers (85 miles) north of the southwestern Saudi city of Jizan, it said.

HHI is the world's top shipbuilder, but also constructs power and water plants. In October last year, the company won a $3.2 billion order to build a thermal power plant near Jeddah.

"The Middle East region, despite the global slowdown, still invests heavily in infrastructure thanks to high oil prices and steady population and economic growth," Hyundai said.

"We expect more orders in the future from the Saudi government, which puts a top priority on increasing power and water desalination capacity," it added.

Since November last year when the technical bidding has begun, the company has competed fiercely with ten or so world-class construction contractors and was selected as the preferred negotiating partner in May this year. Earlier in October last year, Hyundai Heavy had won a $3.2-billion order from the same Saudi Electricity Company to build a large thermal power plant in Jeddah jointly with Japan's Mitsubishi.

Korea Times / Business Tech

Hyundai Engineering consortium wins US$300 Million deal from Thailand

Hyundai Engineering Co., a leading South Korean industrial plant builder, said Monday its consortium has clinched a US$300 million contract to build manufacturing facilities for a raw material used in biodegradable household detergents in Thailand.

Hyundai Engineering said it and its parent company, Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., plan to build the facilities capable of producing 100,000 tons of linear alkylbenzene, a raw material used in biodegradable household detergents.

Yonhap News Agency

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