Korean media: HD Hyundai's U.S. Navy MRO business has officially started ... U.S. 7th Fleet vessels dock in Ulsan

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has officially launched its maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) business for U.S. Navy military supply ships.

On the 30th, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries announced that the "USNS Alan Shepard," a 41,000-ton cargo supply ship belonging to the U.S. Navy 7th Fleet, has docked at the Saebyeok Port near Ulsan Hyundai's Yulpo shipyard to undergo regular overhaul.

This is HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' first U.S. Navy MRO order, with the contract starting in early August. The vessel measures 210 meters in length, 32 meters in width, and 9.4 meters in height. The maintenance work was officially launched on the same day and will be delivered to the U.S. Navy by the end of the year after safety equipment inspections, various tank repairs, and equipment checks. According to South Korean shipbuilding standards, the work difficulty is not high, but for the U.S. shipbuilding industry, whose infrastructure has already collapsed, even regular overhauls are difficult to carry out.

In 2022, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries established a military support center in the Philippines and has been providing MRO services for vessels delivered to the Philippines. Now, the scope of the business has expanded to the U.S. Navy. From the perspective of business costs alone, non-combat ship MRO for the U.S. Navy usually amounts to hundreds of billions of won, far less than the price of major ship types in the South Korean shipbuilding industry - LNG transport ships (about 350 billion won per ship, approximately RMB 1.77 billion). However, considering cooperation with the U.S. shipbuilding industry, this is a business that will inevitably see competition between Japanese and South Korean shipyards in the future.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is currently advancing the merger with HD Hyundai Yulpo and plans to establish a new legal entity in December. After the merger, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will be able to use HD Hyundai Yulpo's dry docks and piers, significantly enhancing its capability to undertake overseas vessel projects.

Source: Chosun Ilbo

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1844673686094857/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.