With the continuous growth of orders for high value-added ships and the obvious improvement of economic benefits, the salary level of the "Big Three" in South Korea's shipbuilding industry has risen as a whole, especially Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries topped the list with an average annual salary of more than 100 million won (about 570,000 yuan), an increase of 23%.
The annual salary of employees of 5 backbone shipping companies rose four times and fell once, and Hyundai Sanhu Heavy Industry surpassed the "boss" to rank first
According to data released by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on March 19, in 2023, two of the three shipbuilding subsidiaries of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Marine, the holding company of HD Hyundai Shipbuilding Business, will increase their salaries and one will decline, and the salaries of Samsung Heavy Industries and Hanwha Marine will also increase by different magnitudes.
Among them, the average salary of 3,867 employees directly employed by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries in 2023 exceeded the 100 million won mark to 103.97 million won, which is about 568,700 yuan at the exchange rate of 1 yuan to 182.81 won on December 31, 2023, a significant increase of 23.11% from 84.45 million won in 2022.
The second-highest South Korean shipyard in terms of salary in 2023 is HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, with the average annual salary of its directly employed employees reaching 90.88 million won (about 497,000 yuan), an increase of 7% from 84.72 million won in 2022.
In third place is Samsung Heavy Industries, which directly employs employees with an average annual salary of 88 million won (about 481,000 yuan) in 2023, up 5% from 84 million won in 2022.
Hyundai Mipo Shipbuilding ranked fourth, with an average annual salary of 84.5 million won (about 462,000 yuan) for its direct employees in 2023, down 2% from 86.11 million won in 2022, and the only company among South Korea's backbone shipyards to see their annual salary level decline last year.
At the bottom of the list is Hanwha Marine (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding), with an average annual salary of 83 million won (about 454,000 yuan) for direct employees in 2023, up 14% from 73 million won in 2022.
According to people in the Korean shipbuilding industry, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries is the only Korean shipbuilding company that has achieved the average annual salary of directly employed employees exceeding 100 million won, and has surpassed HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to rank first among Korean shipbuilders in 2023. This is mainly due to the fact that the company has undertaken a large number of new orders for high-priced environmentally friendly ships in recent years and has begun to officially build them, the company's economic benefits have been significantly improved, and employee bonuses have also risen.
According to statistics, Hyundai Sanhu Heavy Industries will undertake new ship orders of US$5.553 billion in 2021, US$8.662 billion in 2022, and US$6.63 billion in 2023, significantly exceeding the expected target for three consecutive years, with a cumulative order amount of more than US$20.8 billion in three years, and most of the orders are high value-added ships. As of the end of 2023, the company has 107 new ship orders and 6.33 million revised gross tons (CGT), ranking fourth among the world's monohull shipyards in terms of CGT.
In 2023, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries achieved operating income of 5.9587 trillion won (about 4.49 billion US dollars), a year-on-year increase of 28.2%, an operating profit of 301.7 billion won (about 227 million US dollars), a year-on-year increase of 1604.5%, and a net profit of 211.2 billion won (about 159 million US dollars), a sharp increase of 7182.8% year-on-year.
Most annual salaries are closely related to profitability, but Hanwha Marine has raised salaries even if it has not turned around its losses
On the other hand, the annual salary level of employees of other shipping companies is also closely related to the revenue of each company, especially the profitability.
In 2023, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries achieved operating income of 11.9639 trillion won (about 9.01 billion US dollars), a year-on-year increase of 32.3%, an operating profit of 138.7 billion won (about 104 million US dollars), a significant increase of 524.8% year-on-year, and a net profit of 31 billion won (about 23.36 million US dollars) for the current period. Samsung Heavy Industries achieved an operating income of 8,009.4 billion won (US$6.03 billion) and an operating profit of 233.3 billion won (US$178 million), turning a profit for the first time since 2015. Hanwha Marine achieved an operating income of 74,083 trillion won (US$5.58 billion) and an operating loss of 196.5 billion won (US$148 million), a year-on-year decrease of 87.8%.
Hyundai Mipo Shipbuilding will achieve an operating income of 1,102.8 billion won (about 831 million US dollars) in 2023, but it will have an operating loss of 166.2 billion won (about 125 million US dollars), and it has also become the only shipbuilding subsidiary of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Marine to have an operating loss, so the salary level has not risen but fallen.
Although Hanwha Marine has not yet turned a profit, it has already significantly reduced its losses and made timely deliveries to improve employee benefits after the company's acquisition by Hanwha Group in May last year, resulting in a significant increase in salaries second only to Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries.
In addition, judging from the annual salaries of unregistered executives of various backbone shipping companies in South Korea in 2023, only Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries have increased. Among them, the average annual salary of Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries executives is 332.54 million won (about 1.82 million yuan), an increase of 30% from 255 million won in 2022, and the average annual salary of Samsung Heavy Industries executives is 242 million won (about 1.324 million yuan), an increase of 9% from 222 million won in 2022.
The annual salaries of Hyundai Miura Shipbuilding and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries executives have declined. Among them, the average annual salary of Hyundai Mipo Shipbuilding executives is 228.08 million won (about 1.248 million yuan), a decrease of 23% from 295.6 million won in 2022. It is worth mentioning that although HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will achieve a significant 5-fold year-on-year increase in operating profit in 2023, the average annual salary of the company's executives in 2023 will decrease by 4% from 331.31 million won in 2022, to 317.97 million won (about 1.74 million yuan), but it ranks second only to Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries.