【Text by Observers Network, Qi Qian】

The Trump administration has entrusted the dream of "making American shipbuilding great again" to South Korea, and has high hopes for the Hanwha Ocean shipyard located in Philadelphia, USA. The Philadelphia shipyard has a long history and was acquired by Hanwha Ocean, a leading South Korean shipbuilder, for 100 million dollars last year.

Recently, US President Trump announced that the Philadelphia shipyard will also be responsible for building nuclear-powered submarines.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal on November 10, Trump is committed to revitalizing the American shipbuilding industry and narrowing the huge maritime gap with China. The prospect of building nuclear-powered submarines in Philadelphia further raises his ambitions, but also greatly increases the difficulty of implementation.

The report mentioned that not long ago, South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo admitted that the Philadelphia shipyard has significant shortcomings in technical capabilities, human resources, and facilities. He said it would be more appropriate to build nuclear submarines in South Korea.

Hanwha Ocean Shipyard in Philadelphia, South Korea News Agency

South Korea invested 150 billion USD to bet on Trump's "shipbuilding dream," trying to "make American shipbuilding great again."

The Wall Street Journal pointed out that the United States has long been struggling with the decline of its shipbuilding industry, while China is the world's largest shipbuilder, with a capacity more than 230 times that of the United States, and also far exceeds the US in the number of commercial ships. Currently, the US accounts for less than 1% of global commercial shipbuilding, far below China's approximately 60%, and South Korea ranks second with 22%.

Trump's shipbuilding revival dream highly depends on South Korea's assistance. The US-South Korea cooperation projects include repairing US warships, assisting in designing naval supply ships, and helping US companies expand production, train workers, and improve efficiency. However, the report stated that the Philadelphia shipyard is the most critical link, and if successful, it could become a model for other American shipyards, but requires sustained political support, a large workforce, and substantial funding.

Hanwha plans to invest 5 billion USD in the Philadelphia shipyard to rebuild a significantly reduced shipbuilding workforce and supply chain ecosystem, aiming to increase annual production from one commercial ship to 20, adding thousands of workers, and introducing heavy cranes, robots, and training facilities.

It is reported that about 10% of the current employees at the Philadelphia shipyard are from South Korea. Hanwha plans to use two dry docks for new ship construction, add painting and blasting workshops, and expand training facilities to accommodate the influx of new employees.

After Trump "approved" the South Korean side to manufacture nuclear submarines at the Philadelphia shipyard, Hanwha set an internal goal of producing 2 to 3 nuclear-powered submarines per year at the Philadelphia shipyard within ten years. Last summer, Hanwha won a contract for 12 medium oil tankers and liquefied natural gas ships, becoming the largest single order in the US in decades, with the first expected to be delivered in 2028.

The history of the Philadelphia shipyard dates back to before the Declaration of Independence, and it was an important base for the creation of the US Navy.

But in recent decades, as the number of ships built in the US decreased, foreign countries have dominated the market with lower costs and more advanced technology, and the former glory of the Philadelphia shipyard has faded. It currently produces only one ship per year, far below the weekly output of Hanwha in South Korea.

New CEO of Hanwha's Philadelphia shipyard, David Kim, said the goal is to bring some South Korean methods to Philadelphia. He said, "We must change; we cannot continue doing things the way we have always done them."

The report said that before this, Hanwha had never built a nuclear-powered submarine, and the US has always kept nuclear technology highly confidential.

South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo, South Korea News Agency

According to another report by the Korean Central News Agency, on the 5th, South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo attended a full committee meeting of the National Assembly's Defense Committee and stated that the government officially planned to introduce nuclear-powered submarines should be built domestically.

Song Young-moo said that South Korea has accumulated over 30 years of technical experience in this field and has been conducting in-depth research, so it is more appropriate to build nuclear submarines in South Korea. He believed that the Philadelphia shipyard currently has significant shortcomings in technical capabilities, human resources, and facilities. Therefore, the Ministry of Defense needs to closely coordinate with other departments on the issue of where to build nuclear submarines.

The Trump administration has high expectations for the US-South Korea shipbuilding cooperation, but industry experts are not completely optimistic about its prospects.

According to a report by Bloomberg in August, Nomura Securities, a Japanese financial institution, analyzed that South Korea's ambition to use its shipbuilding companies to revitalize the struggling US shipbuilding industry may threaten the profitability of its own shipyards.

At the same time, some observers in South Korea have called on the government to proceed with caution. Some scholars described the South Korean shipbuilding industry as being in a crisis for the past decade, and now just out of intensive care (ICU), they have been given a big task. Data shows that the number of ship deliveries in South Korea in 2024 is far behind China, with South Korea accounting for about 17% and China around 68%.

Additionally, some analysts pointed out that the Trump administration has a more pessimistic view of its partners and allies, making it difficult to believe that long-term cooperation between the US and South Korea will be achieved. "If this deal cannot last for ten years, it has no economic significance."

This article is an exclusive piece by Observers Network, and any reproduction without permission is prohibited.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7571346606876934707/

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