Samsung Heavy Industries Co., the world's second-largest shipbuilder, said Thursday that it has won a 1.25 trillion won ($1.35 billion) deal to build eight container ships.
The contract from an Asian shipping company calls on Samsung Heavy to deliver the vessels by May 2012, the company said.
Shares of Samsung Heavy were trading at 51,000 won as of 10:50 a.m., up 1 percent from the previous session.
Last month, the shipbuilder said its second-quarter earnings reached 130 billion won, compared with 32 billion won a year earlier.
Sales increased 30.7 percent to 2.08 trillion won, and operating income also surged to 108 billion won from 24 billion won, according to the shipbuilder.
South Korea, home to seven of the world's top 10 shipyards, clinched record-high orders last year because of strong demand for crude carriers and offshore exploration equipment as oil prices remained high.
In the first six months of the year, local shipbuilders also secured a record $33.2 billion worth of orders, buoyed by a surge in global demand for new vessels, up 51.3 percent from a year earlier.