Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Friday it has obtained a 2.8 trillion-won ($2.5 billion) order from a Panamanian company to build 20 container carriers.

Under the deal, Samsung Heavy Industries will deliver the 15,000-TEU vessels, on which energy saving devices will be mounted, by June 2025, the shipbuilder said in a regulatory filing.

Samsung Heavy Industries has won a combined $5.1 billion in orders to build 42 ships so far this year, achieving 65 percent of its annual order target of $7.8 billion.

On the back of the recent spike in orders, Samsung Heavy's order backlog increased to $25.8 billion as of March, up from $22.2 billion a year ago.

"Orders for container carriers and oil tankers have been increasing this year thanks to a recovery in global seaborne trade and a rise in ocean freight charges," the company said in a separate emailed statement.

Samsung Heavy said it has won orders for 34 of 66 12,000-TEU container carriers globally ordered so far this year, dominating the container carrier market with a 52 percent share of the market. (Yonhap)