STX Shipbuilding chalks up US$230 mllion order from Taiwan

Korea's STX Shipbuilding Co. said Monday it has won a US$230 million deal to build five petrochemical tankers for a Taiwanese shipper.

Delivery of the 54,000 DWT class vessels to Formosa Plastics Marine Corp., one of Taiwan's top three shipping companies, is scheduled for the end of 2009, the company said. DWT refers to dead weight tonnage, a vessel's cargo-carrying capacity.

This is the first time for STX Shipbuilding, the world's seventh-largest shipbuilder by order back log, to secure a deal from Taiwan.

STX Shipbuilding has clinched $2.9 billion worth of orders so far this year and is expected to easily beat its annual target set at $3.6 billion, it said.