HJ Shipbuilding & Construction and Three Other Companies Join Forces to Create Gunsan Offshore Wind Cluster

[Financial News] HJ Shipbuilding & Construction and J Ocean Heavy Industries are teaming up with renewable energy developer Myeongun Industrial Development and wind power specialist Unison to develop an offshore wind cluster in Gunsan.
HJ Shipbuilding & Construction said on the 28th that representatives of four companies attended and signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Development of the Gunsan Offshore Wind Cluster’ at its Seoul headquarters on the 27th. 
The agreement is intended to combine HJ Shipbuilding & Construction’s production and process know-how in shipbuilding and marine industries, and the large-scale production infrastructure at J Ocean Heavy Industries’ Gunsan Shipyard, with the business capabilities of Myeongun Industrial Development and Unison, two of the country’s top wind power companies. The aim is to establish a supply chain for offshore wind facilities and identify new business opportunities.
HJ Shipbuilding & Construction said that Gunsan Mayor Kim Jae-jun and Chairman Cha Jeong-hun, a businessperson from Jeonbuk who led the acquisition of Gunsan Shipyard, also attended the signing ceremony and lent their support to the project. Cha has reportedly been actively promoting the creation of a Gunsan offshore wind cluster that links the shipbuilding industry’s foundations with the offshore wind supply chain. 
Under the agreement among the four parties, J Ocean Heavy Industries will use the infrastructure at Gunsan Shipyard to provide a production base for structures and related equipment needed for offshore wind power. HJ Shipbuilding & Construction will help establish production hubs for offshore structures, including offshore wind towers and offshore substations (OSS), drawing on its accumulated production and process-management expertise in shipbuilding and marine industries. Myeongun Industrial Development and Unison plan to share their offshore wind project development, technical and production know-how, and cooperate in building a supply chain for related equipment.
The agreement is expected to enable J Ocean Heavy Industries to diversify its business portfolio by extending Gunsan Shipyard’s production capabilities, which have traditionally focused on shipbuilding, into the marine energy sector.  
J Ocean Heavy Industries is busy preparing to resume operations at Gunsan Shipyard, whose main business is shipbuilding. Over the past four months, it has signed letters of intent (LOIs) for the construction of a total of 10 vessels, including crude oil and petrochemical product carriers and crude oil tankers, laying the groundwork for future orders. It is also expanding its business by developing 100,000 pyeong of the site’s total 540,000-pyeong land—unused land remaining after excluding land needed for shipbuilding—into an offshore wind cluster. 
An HJ Shipbuilding & Construction official said, “We will create new growth opportunities by extending HJ Shipbuilding & Construction’s manufacturing capabilities in shipbuilding and marine industries, along with J Ocean Heavy Industries’ large-scale production infrastructure, into various marine industries, including offshore wind. We will work closely with the parties to the agreement to develop the project in concrete terms, deliver results, and contribute to regional development and economic revitalization.”
[email protected] Kwon Byeong-seok Reporter