Aju Business Daily

SEOUL, Jan. 03 (Aju News) -- Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's largest shipyard, warned of a dwindling backlog of orders this year, saying its dockyard for offshore plants would be completely empty in a few months.

"This year, we may face a grave situation that we have never experienced," Hyundai Heavy CEO Kang Hwan-goo said in his New Year statement on Wednesday.

Helped by sweeping restructuring to ride out a protracted business slump, the shipbuilder has successfully reduced its debt. The shipbuilder has also overhauled its bloated structure through the disposal of non-core assets.

However, Kang set this year's sales target at 7.98 trillion won (7.48 billion US dollars), citing a dwindling backlog of orders especially in its offshore plant business. The shipyard's sales last year were estimated at 10.03 trillion won,

Last year, the shipbuilding group separated Hyundai Robotics as the holding company of non-shipbuilding units. Hyundai Heavy now focuses on shipbuilding, offshore drilling, and engine making in the southeastern industrial city of Ulsan.