HD HHI Press Release – Translation by Naval News
On July 15, HD HHI announced that U.S. Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg and U.S. Consul Nolan Barkhouse visited the Ulsan Shipyard.
During the visit, Ki-sun Chung, Vice Chairman of HD Hyundai, and Sang-kyun Lee, President & CEO of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, accompanied the delegation, providing a firsthand introduction to the company’s major business operations.
This visit was arranged after Ambassador Goldberg expressed his desire to tour HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s number one shipbuilder and a leading company in the domestic naval sector, and discuss ways to enhance mutual cooperation.
The delegation inspected HD HHI’s merchant ship construction site before moving to the naval and special shipyard, where they toured next-generation Aegis destroyers, state-of-the-art patrol ships under construction, docks, and maintenance and repair facilities.
With the U.S. considering the possibility of outsourcing some of its naval MRO work overseas, recent visits by high-level U.S. officials to HD Hyundai Heavy Industries have significantly boosted the potential for collaboration with the U.S. Navy.
In February, Carlos Del Toro, the U.S. Secretary of the Navy, visited HD HHI to personally verify their shipbuilding capabilities. After the Secretary’s visit to Korean shipyards, including HD HHI, Secretary Del Toro remarked, “I was amazed by the level of digitalization and real-time monitoring in the shipbuilding process,” and noted, “Korean shipyards build high-quality ships, including Aegis destroyers, at much lower costs than we do.”
Sang-kyun Lee, President & CEO of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries stated,
Interest in security is increasing globally more than ever. We will lead the Korean defense industry by strengthening cooperation with the United States, the world’s strongest nation and our long-standing ally.
Ambassador Goldberg commented,
I believe there is great potential for the United States and HD Hyundai to build an excellent partnership in the merchant ship and naval sectors.
Recently, HD HHI became the first Korean company to sign an MSRA (Master Ship Repair Agreement) with the U.S. Navy’s Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP). Furthermore, HD HHI is expanding related business by signing agreements to strengthen MRO business cooperation with the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), domestic maintenance companies, and medium-sized shipyards.