Samsung aids Brazil's new shipyard production

The first fruit of bilateral cooperation came with the launch of Brazil’s biggest vessel this past weekend The first Brazilian ship built with Korean shipyard technology was launched over the weekend in a sign of growing production cooperation in the sector between the two countries. The Atlantico Sul Shipyard in Rio de Janeiro, launched the 150,000-ton oil tanker, named the Joao Candido after a Brazilian naval hero.
Samsung Heavy Industries Co. provided some of the technology used in the production of what is the largest ship ever built in Brazil.
The Joao Candido will be the first of 10 oil tankers of the same size that will be built in the shipyard. Samsung has a 10 percent stake in the Atlantico Sul Shipyard, whose construction was completed last year.
Attending the launch ceremony were Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and top executives from Brazil’s state-run companies including Petrobras and Transpetro.
Samsung has earned so far $29 million in royalty from the shipyard for technology transfers, including blueprints, know-how and the training of Brazilian employees.
The shipyard was established in November 2005 through a partnership between several business groups, including Camargo Correa, Queiroz Galvao, Samsung and PJMR.
The Atlantico Sul Shipyard, which is the largest in Latin America, was built with Samsung technology and has a backlog of ship orders until 2012.
Samsung has won another $10 million deal to support the construction of a second oil tanker with a capacity of 110,000 tons.
Atlantico Sul and Samsung plan to bid for large drill ship orders from Petrobras, the national oil company of Brazil, this month. The Brazilian government said it would spend $104.6 billion in developing deep-sea oil fields off the coast of Brazil and a number of Korean shipbuilders have joined forces with Brazilian shipbuilders to take advantage of the opportunity.