U.S. shipyards are accelerating process automation to improve productivity. They aim to solve the labor problem, cited as the biggest obstacle to rebuilding shipbuilding, by introducing artificial intelligence (AI) and robots.
According to Business Insider and other foreign media on the 17th, Huntington Ingalls, the largest U.S. shipbuilder specializing in warships, agreed to collaborate with GrayMatter Robotics, an AI-based robotics company, in areas including automating ship construction, workforce training, and expanding unmanned system production. Through this agreement, the introduction of physical AI will be pursued for labor-intensive tasks such as metal surface polishing, sanding, coating, inspection, and finishing.
The two companies were said to be planning to test the performance of physical AI at worksites starting next year, then pursue scaling up production. GrayMatter Robotics CEO Ariyan Kabir said, "Shipbuilding sites require a high level of skilled work, and in the United States it is no longer easy to find people who can perform these tasks," explaining the reason for introducing physical AI.
Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, a U.S. hub for Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation, is also accelerating productivity gains through automation. The yard is pursuing a modernization project that aims to expand its current annual shipbuilding volume of about 1.5 ships to as many as 20 ships a year over the long term.
Philly Shipyard President David Kim said in an interview with CBS News last month, "In two years, you will see many robots and automated equipment in the shipyard." Separately, he added, "Specialized personnel from Korea are training U.S. workers, and there are also plans to hire about 10,000 people."
The U.S. government is also increasing support for shipbuilding automation. Of the $1.5 billion (about 2.2227 trillion won) budget released in February under the "Maritime Action Plan (MAP)" by the White House, most is reportedly allocated to shipyard modernization and workforce investment.
By category, $355 million (about 526.1 billion won) will be invested as subsidies for small shipyards and commercial shipbuilding infrastructure, $550 million (about 815.2 billion won) for modernization of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy campus and development of new personnel, and more than $100 million (about 148.2 billion won) for innovation programs, respectively.