K-Shipbuilding Comes Together as 250 Gather for Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Day, Pledging Close Cooperation

[Financial News] South Korea’s shipbuilding and offshore industries came together for the 23rd Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Day, pledging to strengthen K-shipbuilding’s competitiveness and promote mutually beneficial cooperation.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a commemorative event for the 23rd Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Day at El Tower in Yangjae-dong, Seoul, on the 10th. About 250 people from the shipbuilding and offshore sectors attended, including Vice Minister Mun Sin-hak and Lee Sang-kyun, chairman of the Korea Offshore & Shipbuilding Association.
Shipbuilding and Offshore Industries Day was designated to commemorate September 15, 1997, when domestic ship orders first exceeded 10 million metric tons. The event has been held annually since 2004. Participants shared the achievements of K-shipbuilding, which has recently been showing signs of recovering exports, while reaffirming their commitment to cooperation across the industry ecosystem, including large shipbuilders, smaller shipyards, and marine equipment manufacturers.
The event also featured government awards and ministerial commendations for 35 people who contributed to the development of the shipbuilding and offshore industries. Kwon Byung-hoon, executive vice president of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, and Park Tae-soo, CEO of Doowon Hi-Steel, received the Silver Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit. Kwon was recognized for contributing to the integration engineering of electric propulsion systems and the establishment of a digital-twin-based virtual commissioning system. Park was honored for localizing cryogenic piping for offshore plants and LNG carriers and establishing a production system.
Lee Jung-sun, senior vice president of Hanwha Ocean, and Lee Jun-hyuk, executive vice president of HD Hyundai Samho, received Industrial Service Medals. Lee Jung-sun was recognized for developing a hybrid electric propulsion system that incorporates batteries into the propulsion systems of LNG carriers. Lee Jun-hyuk was honored for leading a government-funded project to establish an artificial intelligence transformation (AX) demonstration center for the shipbuilding industry and for building a big-data-based quality and process management system.
This year was particularly notable because a marine equipment company executive received an Order of Industrial Service Merit for the first time in about a decade. A financial institution executive who has supported the issuance of refund guarantees (RGs) for smaller shipbuilders also received a government award. The event highlighted the contributions of the broader K-shipbuilding ecosystem, including not only shipyards but also equipment manufacturers and financial institutions.
As competition with China’s shipbuilding industry intensifies, participants agreed that the competitiveness of the entire value chain—from equipment, steel, finance, and shipping—is becoming as important as the competitiveness of individual shipbuilders.
Lee Sang-kyun, chairman of KOSHIPA, said, "Amid the current competitive landscape with China, the competitiveness of individual companies alone has limitations. The strength of the entire value chain, extending from equipment manufacturing to shipbuilding, ordering, and shipping, is becoming increasingly important." Vice Minister Mun Sin-hak also emphasized, "Building a single ship is impossible through the efforts of a shipyard alone. The strength of the entire upstream and downstream value chain encompassing steel, marine equipment, shipping, and finance is precisely the competitiveness of K-shipbuilding."
The government and industry agreed to expand the use of domestically produced equipment on new ships built for Korean-flagged shipping companies, extend the technologies of large shipbuilders to smaller shipyards and partner companies, and support smaller shipbuilding and marine equipment companies in entering the U.S. market.
[email protected] Won-il Jung Reporter