Minister holds conference with top 3 shipbuilder CEOs

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Chang-yang held a conference with the CEOs of top three domestic shipbuilders on August 19 to discuss key issues and future goals for Korea's shipyard.

The three shipbuilders represented at the conference are Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI).

One major issue raised by the CEOs was the difficulty of finding quality human resources to take on projects. They requested that the Government support the train-up process of shipbuilding professionals and also improve the present foreign worker employment system.

Moreover, they added the need for raising the maximum refund guarantee amidst rising vessel prices, as well as extending the application range of actual Korean technology-based equipment and materials.

This year, the three giants have poured KRW 234 billion into developing ammonia-fueled carriers, carbon capture and sequestration devices, smart ship data platforms zero carbon and digital transformation technologies. Future investments will continue to expand, soon covering areas like smart yard and eco-friendly facilities.

Minister Lee relayed that preemptive and proactive investments are important for South Korea's maintaining of its super-gap in shipyard competitiveness, stating that the Government will concentrate on three main areas: personnel, technology and ecosystem.

For securing specialized personnel, the Ministry will focus on training up engineers and modifying the current system of foreign worker employment.

For technology, industry-government joint efforts will go toward maintaining the super-gap in low carbon carriers like LNG carriers, while preemptively responding to zero-carbon carriers and autonomous vessels market. CO2 tankers and offshore wind substructures are additional promising business prospects.

For ecosystem, production line digital transformation from shipyard to materials supply will help raise industry productivity. Boosting SMEs' competitiveness and resolving financing issues are necessary for effective digestion of existing project orders. Lastly, it is imperative that engineering and R&D capacity of materials and equipment companies be enhanced in order to strengthen technical competitiveness.

Noting that comprehensive measures for advancing Korea's shipyard industry will be announced in the near future, the Minister stressed that corporations and Government must work in tandem to make the most of the current tailwind.

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