The fate of STX Offshore & Shipbuilding remained dim Tuesday, even though a self-rescue plan was delivered to creditors after its labor and the management reached an agreement on a restructuring plan.

A self-help plan and a letter of confirmation both by the labor and the management was delivered to its creditor, the Korea Development Bank, in the evening, nearly a day after the deadline of 12 a.m.

The details of the plan were not revealed. But the final version of the proposal was “not so much different” from its previous offering, an STX official told The Korea Herald.

The union said on early Tuesday morning that it plans to cut 75 percent of labor costs while keeping the number of employees by cutting down on unpaid leave, wages and bonuses. The KDB wants the company to reduce the same amount of labor cost by laying off workers, not cutting down salaries.

Despite its belated submission of the self-rescue plan, it was widely seen as creditors gearing up to place the reeling shipbuilder under court receivership.

“We will prepare for putting STX under legal management as the firm missed the deadline and the self-help plan of (monthslong) wage cuts does not also seem feasible. Still, when the final plan is made, we will review it with the government,” a KDB spokesperson told The Korea Herald.

Choi Jong-ku, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, also told reporters in the afternoon, “We will wait a little more as they are still in talks but the decision should be made by the end of today.”

Last month, the government and KDB had said it would help revive STX on condition of the union’s agreement by April 9 to cut production workers by 75 percent (around 500 employees) via voluntary retirement or moving to its partner firms. If STX workers move to the partner firms, job security will be guaranteed for three years, with 80 percent of existing salaries, bonuses that are 300 percent of base salary and overtime allowance, according to KDB.

By Monday, however, only 144 employees applied for either voluntary retirement or decided to move to its partner firms.

If creditors of STX make a final decision to put STX under court receivership, this will be the second time for the shipbuilder to be under legal management after it was first put under receivership in 2016 due to management failure.

But, this time, when it is again under legal management, it is likely to face liquidation instead of revival as 8 trillion won ($7.4 billion) of public funds was already injected to the struggling firm to no avail.

Last year, STX posted a loss of 114.6 billion won. Although it has 147.5 billion won in cash, its cash is likely to be exhausted this year for the labor cost and shipbuilding production cost.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)