Major South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean Co. said Monday it has won orders totaling 2.15 trillion won (US$1.55 billion) for eight carriers from two Middle Eastern shippers. Hanwha Ocean will build four liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships for one undisclosed Middle Eastern shipper at a cost of 1.43 trillion won and four very large crude carriers (VLCCs) for another at 719.6 billion won, the company revealed in a regulatory filing. So far this year, Hanwha Ocean has bagged $5.3 billion worth of orders to build 16 LNG carriers, seven VLCCs, two ammonia carriers and one liquefied petroleum gas carrier. It garnered orders worth $3.5 billion for the whole of 2023. Hanwha Ocean, formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co., set sail as the shipbuilding arm of chemical-to-defense industry conglomerate Hanwha Group in May last year. Source: Yonhap News Agency