major shareholder issues profit upgrade

"The cost of building a so-called Aframax tanker, which can carry 600,000 barrels of oil, was $35.25 million in the first quarter of 2002, according to the London-based shipbroker Clarkson. That has risen to about $54 million, shipbrokers say.

"We have received 63 orders worth $6.5 billion this year to date," said Ahn Wook Hyeonn, a spokesman at Daewoo Shipbuilding. "I don't think the shipbuilding industry will do badly next year, but there won't be explosive orders like last year and this year because so many orders have been placed already."