The big 3 shipbuilders, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Samsung Heavy Industries, have laid out the second stage of restructuring plans to their creditors that is worth some 5-billion dollars.
The plans consist of a combination of company restructuring, selling of assets and reduction of wages.
For example, Daewoo is looking to sell off its defense industry arm, which produces military ships and submarines in order to free up much needed capital.
Daewoo is also said to be looking to sell its office building in downtown Seoul, appraised at an estimated value of 150-million dollars.
Daewoo, as well as Samsung, are also looking to sell their floating docks.
But sales could be difficult, with the current global ship-building industry in recession and demand low.
Hyundai has seen some 8-thousand people leave the company through regular and voluntary resignations since 2015, but they are encouraging more to opt for early retirement packages in order to make further cuts to the wage bill.
Daewoo and Samsung are also looking to reduce staff by about a thousand each this year.
There are concerns that the loss of assets and manpower would mean relinquishing their positions among some of the biggest shipbuilders in the world, and also hurt the companies in the long run, especially if the worldwide shipping industry recovers.
But for now, the drastic changes are deemed necessary to stem the huge annual losses they are currently facing.