Ssangyong Sails Through Overseas Blue Ocean
By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Globalization has been a keyword for local construction companies and Ssangyong Engineering & Construction has been at the forefront of the move, opening up blue ocean markets in overseas construction, including high-end projects such as hotels, luxurious apartments and hospitals as well as high-technology civil engineering.
Since its foundation in 1977, it recorded around $7.1 billion in orders from around the world, including the United States, Japan, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
For instance, the builder achieved an order for Marina Coastal Expressway Contract 482 in Singapore for $633 million last November. It is the biggest overseas civil engineering project won by a local construction company.
Officials from the Land Transport Authority of Singapore visited the Ssangyong headquarters in southern Seoul last July to encourage the builder to join the bidding for the huge civil engineering project. Three months later, Ssangyong won the bid to be in charge of both the design and construction of the expressway that is to be completed in June 2013.
It is expected to cost 820 million won to construct every meter of the expressway built in unstable reclaimed land, which is over 10 times more expensive than other terrain.
``It is expensive because of the technology,'' said a spokesperson at Ssangyong. ``The competitors offered lower prices, but they failed to pass the technology evaluation. Technology mattered more than the price in this project,'' he said.
Marina Bay Sands Hotel Project in Singapore also shows Ssangyong's technology. It is building a mammoth hotel with 2,600 rooms for $686 million, the biggest ever in the country's 40 years of overseas construction. The 12,000-square-meter Sky Park, located on top of three hotel towers, garnered praise from designers around the world. It includes a garden, trail, restaurant, spa, swimming pool and observation deck, giving a panoramic view of the bay and city.
The most difficult part of the construction is that the building had to be slanted 52 degrees from the bottom. The three buildings are connected by a single roof on the 23rd story, or 70 meters from the ground.
``The 52 degrees slant is equal to the Pyramids in Egypt. Some called this hotel project one of the construction wonders of the century,'' the Ssangyong spokesperson said.
The construction company was ranked second among the top global construction companies in terms of hotel and office construction by ENR of the United States.
``Despite falling oil prices and the global financial crisis, we expect orders to increase in areas that call for a high level of technology. We plan to strengthen value engineering, producing the maximum effect with the minimal cost in the shortest time possible,'' the Ssangyong spokesperson said.
By Yoon Ja-young Staff Reporter Ssangyong Engineering and Construction has become a familiar name in the global market thanks to the wide global network of its President & CEO Kim Suk-joon whose focus is on trust and localization. Kim has an especially wide network with overseas Chinese residents, and has served as the head of the commission for Korea-Singapore economic cooperation for over a decade. The trust he has built up in Singapore has been solid since the Raffles City Project in 1980, leaving Ssangyong in charge of around 30 landmark projects in the country since then. It was involved in the Oceanfront Condominium, a luxurious apartment building project in Sentosa, the most popular tourist site in Singapore in 2006. Ssangyong says that Kim has very close ties with the owner of Hong Leong Group (HLG) in Singapore ― they call each other ``brother.'' For the Oasis Condominium Project, completed in 1994, Ssangyong put in a higher bid price than its competitors, which included Japanese firms. HLG gave the order to Ssangyong, highly valuing its track record in the high-end construction market, including hotels, and the trust it has in the CEO. Localization has been another pillar of Ssangyong's success. Though most global companies closed down their offices in Indonesia during the Asian financial crisis, Ssangyong was one of those that bucked the trend, preparing for and awaiting the expansion of the market. Their efforts helped gain trust. Ssangyong was put in charge of the Plaza Indonesia Expansion and mega projects like the Aceh Road/Bridge Reconstruction and Rehabilitation, which was aimed at rebuilding the region after the tragic tsunami in 2004. Kim is known as a CEO who runs in the field. He is famous for visiting overseas construction sites during holidays, including Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving, and around New Year's Day, sacrificing his free time. In 1992, for example, he transferred airplanes five times in a single day while visiting plants in Iran, and spent 54 hours in the air or in cars during a three-day visit to 10 construction sites in three countries.
By Yoon Ja-young Staff Reporter Ssangyong Engineering and Construction has become a familiar name in the global market thanks to the wide global network of its President & CEO Kim Suk-joon whose focus is on trust and localization. Kim has an especially wide network with overseas Chinese residents, and has served as the head of the commission for Korea-Singapore economic cooperation for over a decade. The trust he has built up in Singapore has been solid since the Raffles City Project in 1980, leaving Ssangyong in charge of around 30 landmark projects in the country since then. It was involved in the Oceanfront Condominium, a luxurious apartment building project in Sentosa, the most popular tourist site in Singapore in 2006. Ssangyong says that Kim has very close ties with the owner of Hong Leong Group (HLG) in Singapore ― they call each other ``brother.'' For the Oasis Condominium Project, completed in 1994, Ssangyong put in a higher bid price than its competitors, which included Japanese firms. HLG gave the order to Ssangyong, highly valuing its track record in the high-end construction market, including hotels, and the trust it has in the CEO. Localization has been another pillar of Ssangyong's success. Though most global companies closed down their offices in Indonesia during the Asian financial crisis, Ssangyong was one of those that bucked the trend, preparing for and awaiting the expansion of the market. Their efforts helped gain trust. Ssangyong was put in charge of the Plaza Indonesia Expansion and mega projects like the Aceh Road/Bridge Reconstruction and Rehabilitation, which was aimed at rebuilding the region after the tragic tsunami in 2004. Kim is known as a CEO who runs in the field. He is famous for visiting overseas construction sites during holidays, including Chuseok, or Korean Thanksgiving, and around New Year's Day, sacrificing his free time. In 1992, for example, he transferred airplanes five times in a single day while visiting plants in Iran, and spent 54 hours in the air or in cars during a three-day visit to 10 construction sites in three countries.