Slowly emerging from the shipbuilding downturn, Samsung Heavy Industries wants to gain an upper hand over its rivals by focusing on ship technology and eco-friendly fuels.

While the shipbuilding capacity has experienced continued consolidation this decade in the face of overcapacity, competition among the remaining yards remains fierce with lacklustre demand in most shipping sectors.

“We need to get more competitiveness in terms of design, productivity and [vessel] quality,” Seongil Oh, SHI’s vice president of marketing and product planning, tells TradeWinds.