Photo: Hanwha Ocean gives presentation to Carlos del Toro (center), US Secretary of Navy. Credit: Hanwha Ocean.
On September 4, Hanwha Ocean 한화오션 announced that it won the bid to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for USNS Wally Schirra, a cargo ship. This marks the first time that a South Korean shipyard is servicing US naval ships, which typically have been serviced in Yokohama, Japan in the Pacific.
Hanwha, a leading military contractor, is a newcomer to shipbuilding. The seventh-largest chaebol 재벌 group of South Korea purchased the shipyard in Geoje, Gyeongsangnam-do Province 경상남도 거제 in 2022. It previously belonged to Daewoo Shipbuilding and Maritime Engineering - the last vestige of the defunct Daewoo Group 대우그룹 that failed in 2001 in the aftermath of the 1997 East Asian Financial Crisis.
With the new shipyard, Hanwha is seeking to diversify its defense contracting services beyond its historical focus on the aerospace sector. In June, Hanwha also acquired the Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, United States for USD 100m, becoming the first South Korean shipbuilder to acquire a US-based shipyard.
