South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean announces first win of a US Navy ship repair contract

WASHINGTON — South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean today announced it secured its first contract from the US Navy to overhaul a 40,000-ton logistics support ship, one month after gaining a green light from the service to do such work.

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Hanwha’s statements do not disclose the value of the contract. Several media outlets, including Korea’s JoongAng Daily, reported the contract is the first of its kind to be won by a South Korean shipbuilder. A US Navy spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions from Breaking Defense about the deal.

“This entry into the U.S. Navy maintenance business will be a major stepping stone for a new leap forward,” a Hanwha official said in the statement. “We have been conducting thorough preliminary preparations, investigations, and analyses, and through these, we have gained the confidence that we can build trust with the U.S. Navy and secure appropriate profits by providing quality depot maintenance in a timely manner.”

The work will be completed at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje plant, located in the southern end of South Korea near the city of Busan.

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro has been aggressively lobbying Hanwha and other Asian shipbuilders to seek work in the American market as part of his “new maritime statecraft,” which is an initiative to revitalize commercial and naval shipbuilding in the United States.

Hanwha on July 22 announced it had secured a master ship repair agreement from the Naval Supply System’s Command which had in turn given it permission to bid on the newly announced logistics ship overhaul contract.

In June, Hanwha revealed it had initiated the process of purchasing a controlling stake in Philly Shipyard for approximately $100 million, another move praised by Del Toro who visited Hanwha and other South Korean and Japanese companies earlier this year.