Samsung Heavy Industries will collaborate with Vietnamese shipyards for shipbuilding, a move seen as part of its “global operations” strategy to reduce outsourcing dependency on Chinese shipyards.
Recently, Samsung Heavy Industries has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with PVSM, a state-owned shipbuilding company under Vietnam’s PetroVietnam, for the cooperative construction of crude oil tankers.
Under the agreement, Samsung Heavy Industries and PVSM plan to jointly build two 156,850 DWT Suezmax oil tankers and two 115,000 DWT LR2 oil tankers. The formal outsourcing contract is expected to be signed in November this year, with construction preparations set to begin in October 2026.
As early as mid-May this year, Samsung Heavy Industries officials led a delegation to visit Vietnam and met with PetroVietnam executives to discuss cooperation directions and technical support plans.
At that time, Samsung Heavy Industries proposed sharing smart shipbuilding technology and global quality standards, and suggested extensive cooperation in areas such as technology transfer, talent training, and quality management consulting. In response, PetroVietnam stated that its subsidiary PVSM was well-suited to participate in Samsung Heavy Industries’ future projects.
At present, in accordance with its global operation strategy, Samsung Heavy Industries is adopting a “take orders first, subcontract later” model. After receiving orders for tankers and other types of ships, it subcontracts the orders to overseas shipyards for secondary subcontracting, with Chinese shipyards being the main outsourcing targets.
As of April this year, Samsung Heavy Industries has outsourced the construction of eight Suezmax oil tankers to Chinese shipyard PaxOcean Engineering Zhoushan Co.Ltd (POEZ). Samsung Heavy Industries is responsible for the new ship design, performance bonds, and the procurement of equipment and materials, while POEZ is responsible for the construction work. The collaboration between the two parties began in November 2024, and this partnership has enabled POEZ to officially enter the large oil tanker construction sector.
However, given US President Trump’s tough measures, such as imposing high port fees on Chinese-built ships, Samsung Heavy Industries is expected to accelerate its expansion into regions outside China, such as Southeast Asia.
It is understood that Samsung Heavy Industries’ cooperation with Vietnam in the shipbuilding industry began in 2023. To address the issue of labor shortages, Samsung Heavy Industries signed a MoU with Thuyloi University in Vietnam in October 2023, with the aim of providing shipbuilding training and professional technical exchanges to lecturers and students at Thuyloi University. The main contents include: dispatching human resources technology, expanding employment, improving technical levels, strengthening human resources exchanges, etc.
In addition, the two sides will dispatch teachers to each other for vocational training, exchange and impart professional knowledge to improve the skills of school faculty, and provide training equipment such as welding and electrical equipment to meet the school’s training needs. They will also cooperate in training to enhance the professional skills of students who meet the human resource recruitment requirements of Samsung Heavy Industries.