South Korea will provide state support to shipbuilding

The South Korean government plans to spend KRW 11 trillion ($ 9.6 billion) by 2020 to help shipyards build 250 ships.

This is a reaction to a sharp decline in new orders, down 87 percent, in the first nine months of 2016, the Commerce Department said. The three largest Korean shipyards Hyundai Heavy Industries Co, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co and Samsung Heavy Industries Co will have to free 32 percent of the workforce by 2018 and cut operations by 23 percent. Earlier it was announced that he plans to sell various assets totaling $ 7.3 billion. All three largest shipyards have debt in Korean banks because they suffered losses in 2015.

In addition, the government will spend 6.5 billion won to help domestic shipping companies buy new vessels, the finance minister said.