Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., an embattled shipbuilder, has clinched a deal estimated at $400 million, to build two liquefied natural gas carriers, industry sources said Friday.

According to the sources, Hyundai Heavy has won the order from SK E&S Co., a local LNG importer, to build the two vessels, which can each carry 180,000 cubic meters of LNG.

The vessels will be delivered starting in the first half of 2019, the sources said.

Hyundai Heavy and other local rivals, such as Samsung Heavy Industries Co., have been struggling to win new orders amid a protracted slump in the global shipbuilding sector, which was hit hard by lower oil prices.

In the first quarter of the year, Hyundai Heavy's new orders reached $1.74 billion, a sharp downturn from $3.02 billion a year earlier.

Recently, Hyundai Heavy got the nod from its creditors to go ahead with its self-restructuring schemes, under which the shipbuilder claims it can save or raise up to 3.5 trillion won ($2.94 billion).

Under the shipbuilder's self-rescue plans, temporarily approved by its creditors, led by KEB-Hana Bank, it will cut stock holdings, sell noncore assets and cut its workforce, which will reduce its debt-to-equity ratio to below 100 percent by 2018. (Yonhap)