Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding Co., a unit of South Korean shipbuilding, oil refining and machinery conglomerate HD Hyundai, said Wednesday it has recently clinched an order to build two oil and chemical tankers for an African shipping company.

The latest order raises its cumulative orders to 199 vessels, a feat achieved 15 years after its entry into the new business area of shipbuilding, the company said, without providing any details on the financial terms of the latest deal.

Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding -- the joint venture set up between Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. and Vietnam's state-run Shipbuilding Industry Corp. in 1996 -- represents South Korea's first overseas shipyard. It used to engage in ship repair and renovation.

Hyundai Mipo Dockyard is one of thee affiliates of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., a subholding company of HD Hyundai.

So far, Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding, which is located in the central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa and employs 5,000 local workers, has delivered 157 ships since its first delivery of a 56,000-ton bulk carrier in 2009.

The company currently has an order backlog of 924,000 compensated gross tons, or 74.4 percent of Vietnam's total backlog of 1.24 million CGTs.

Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding has set its sales target for this year at $543.8 million, or 13 vessels. (Yonhap)