Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering said Monday it had clinched a deal worth 582 billion won ($528 million) for seven vessels with European shipping companies.

The Korean shipbuilder said it has signed the contract to build four 13,200-twenty-foot-equivalent-unit container vessels, two 40,000-square-meter liquefied petroleum gas carriers and one product carrier, for the companies in Europe, unidentified.

The four container vessels, which are 335 meters in length, 51 meters in width and 27.3 meters in height, will be produced by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, and delivered to the purchasers by the second half of 2022, the company said.

According to Korea Shipbuilding, the container ships have been designed with twice the freezing container space, meeting the global market trend. The vessels have also been equipped with Hi-PSD, an energy solution, to reduce CO2 emissions by 3 percent and raise the cost efficiency by 6 percent, the company added.

“There are inquiries about various types of vessels, and we may win additional orders this year,” an official from Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering said.

“We will reinforce our foothold in the market with advanced technologies to reflect the global trend.”

According to Clarksons Research’s September report, purchases of container vessels have been depressed in recent months due to the reduced cargo volumes affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the market is bouncing back, and the analysis agency forecast that global purchases of container ships would grow by about 72 percent to 187 units next year, from this year’s 109 units.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)