South Korea’s Hanwha Engineering and Construction stressed the importance of safety and preventing disasters at construction sites at its annual safety event, the company said Monday. Hanwha E&C held its annual promotion of occupational health and safety at an apartment construction site in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, which was designated by the company as an excellent example of a safe construction site. Hanwha E&C CEO Choi Kwang-ho (second from left) looks at a construction site with the chiefs

GS Caltex has become the first South Korean company to import US crude oil in 41 years, the company said Monday. Korea’s second-largest oil refiner said the large crude carrier IZKI loaded with 1 million barrels of US Eagle Ford Crude arrived Sunday at a port in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province. The company purchased the crude in July. The unloading work will be finished by Tuesday. Unloading work is underway for the crude oil imported from the US, at a port in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, Monday.

Hyundai Merchant Marine on Sunday denied a news report that it failed to join the 2M Alliance that the company has sought for months as part of its normalization plan. The Journal of Commerce reported Friday that the 2M Alliance would not include HMM based on a confirmation statement which the biweekly magazine claimed to have obtained from Maersk Line. The JOC said HMM would instead collaborate with Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Company through a slot purchase agreement which would all

The latest free trade deal between South Korea and Central America is projected to boost Korean exports of cars, steel, cosmetics as well as lower the prices of coffee and tropical fruit imports here. The Korean government Wednesday reached an agreement with six Central American countries -- Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and Guatemala -- to remove tariffs on over 95 percent of goods made from each country, either immediately or within 10 years. Five countries agreed on 24

The government vowed to boost the eco-friendly liquefied natural gas vessel industry to prepare for the tightening of global regulations over the emissions of ships, officials said Wednesday. Park Seung-ki, the chief of port affairs at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, explains the measures for boosting the LNG vessel industry in Sejong, Wednesday. (Yonhap)The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy jointly said they would help shippers introduce the L

Hyundai Heavy Industries will be divided into six independent businesses, the company said Tuesday, in a major reshuffle to cut its debt and improve its financial health.The shipbuilder said it received approval from the executive board to separate the company into six businesses: shipbuilding, marine business and engine; oil and green energy; electronics; construction equipment; robot; and commercial services.“While (the company) previously focused on consolidating noncore businesses, from now

Uncertainty continues to linger over the fate of Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, as its labor union has refused to accept the restructuring plan creditors have demanded as a precondition for a financial injection. (Yonhap)The DSME union Monday said there was “no change in our initial decision not to participate in the self-rescue plan,” objecting to the company’s “unilateral” restructuring plan.“Although we can put efforts into saving the company, (we) cannot accept the request to ta

Hyundai Chemical said Tuesday it would start producing mixed xylene (MX)as the construction of its new plant has been completed.  Hyundai Chemical is a joint corporation that was established in 2014 by Hyundai Oilbank and Lotte Chemical with a financial injection of 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion). MX is a base material for benzene, toluene and xylene, which are used for producing polyester fiber, PET and gasoline additive. The new plant will refine 130,000 barrels of condensate per day, and produ

Local abalone fishing firm Chungsanbada in Wando, South Jeolla Province, is seeking to acquire the Aquaculture Stewardship Council certification for the first time in Korea, in a move to have its sea environment conservation efforts recognized.The ASC, founded in 2010 by World Wide Fund for Nature and Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative, is an independent nonprofit organization that aims to become the world’s leading certification and labeling program for responsibly farmed seafood. The certifica

The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. on Monday announced its plans to raise a new industry by converging information and communication technology with the drone industry.Kepco has signed an agreement with South Jeolla Province and the Korea Drone Industry Promotion Association involving various projects to raise a new industry as part of a new drive for the future economy. Under the agreement, Kepco will research and develop detective and defensive technology of drones and establish a “drone

Chemical and battery firm LG Chem plans to inject $100 million to the acrylotitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) business by 2018 in a bid to secure its top position in the global market, the company said Monday. LG Chem said it would increase the annual capacity of its ABS plant in China by 150,000 tons, leading to a total of 300,000 tons of annual capacity. The Korean company jointly established the ABS plant in Guangdong Province with Chinese state-run energy firm Chinese National Offshore Oil Cor

Korea’s oil refiner S-Oil provided 60,000 coal briquettes for the underprivileged in Gaemi Village in Hongjae-dong, northwestern Seoul, as part of its regular campaign supporting low-income residents, the company said. S-Oil CEO Othman Al-Ghamdi and some 100 employees delivered coal briquettes to the homes of low-income households and the elderly who live alone.  S-Oil CEO Othman al-Ghamdi (third from right) delivers coal briquettes with employees in Gaemi Village in Hongjae-dong, northeastern S

The market capitalization of CJ Group, the nation’s food and entertainment giant, has tumbled 20 percent this year, hit by slowing domestic consumption and negative external factors, data showed Friday. According to financial information provider Fnguide, the total market price of CJ’s nine listed companies plummeted to 20.5 trillion won ($17.9 billion) as of Thursday, from 25.7 trillion won at the end of last year. CJ was the worst performer among the top 15 conglomerates this year. Of CJ’s nin

Plant equipment company Ilsung recently succeeded in exiting from court receivership after over four years of self-rescue measures, the company said Wednesday. The company filed for the court receivership in April 2012 after it faced financial damage in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2008. Established in Ulsan in 1984, Ilsung provides high quality process equipment for oil, gas and energy industries. It has has global companies as its clients including Shell, UOP, Bechtel, Fluor

The prosecution said Wednesday that it is looking into the suspicion that Choi Sun-sil, President Park Geun-hye’s confidante, allegedly received massive funding from Samsung Electronics through a paper company established in Germany. The special prosecutorial team, launched to investigate the high-profile Choi case, said it found signs that about 3.5 billion won ($3 million) of Samsung’s funds had been sent to Widec Sports, a company that Choi and her daughter Chung Yoo-ra jointly established in

Design is more than just a tool for expressing aesthetics. Boosted by fast-changing technology and talented innovators, design is one of the core factors that affect not only the identity of products and brands, but also people‘s everyday lives.Global design gurus emphasize that the future of the industry depends on how designers incorporate design into other fields, suggesting that the design industry is limitless. “The philosophy of the future is ‘convergence,’ which is the title of my show ne

The Korean government vowed Monday to inject 3.7 trillion won ($3.2 billion) into five shipbuilder-concentrated areas by 2020 to alleviate the financial challenges of crisis-hit companies and lower regional dependence on the shipbuilding industry. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy said it would firstly provide 2.7 trillion won by next year to five areas -- Ulsan, Busan, South Gyeongsang Province and South and North Jeolla provinces, where shipbuilders, subcontractors and equipment busin

Korea’s second-largest steelmaker Hyundai Steel succeeded in developing an environment-friendly road-surfacing material using slag for the first time in the country, the company said Sunday. The steelmaker said it finished the quality review of FerroPhalt, made with slag, a glass-like byproduct of metal smelting. While slag has only been used in construction of buildings so far, the new product will be able to replace asphalt or concrete paving, the company said. Compared to traditional natural

Hyundai Engineering and Construction obtained an order to build a gas treatment plant worth 833 billion won ($727 million) from Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil company Saudi Aramco, the company said Friday.  The photo shows the construction site of the gas treatment facility that Hyundai E&C built in Karan, Saudi Arabia, in 2012. (Hyundai E&C)The plant, planned to be built in Usmania, 325 kilometers east of the capital Riyadh, will be used for separating and collecting natural gas fractions such as

Korea’s major power organizations have launched an association to promote sustainable energy, it was announced Thursday. A total of 19 organizations, including Korea Electric Association, Korea Electrical Contractors Association, formed the Sustainable Power Policy Association to contribute to the moves to curb climate change. Comprised of a top committee, a consultative body and expert committee, the newly-launched organization will run as a voluntary policy body for electricity measures. Han D