Korea's shipbuilding industry appears to be speeding up in winning contracts for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of U.S. Navy vessels. It has already secured four deals this year, surpassing last year's total within just over three months.
According to the shipbuilding industry on the 19th, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries recently won a regular maintenance contract for the 41,000-ton USNS Richard E. Byrd of the U.S. 7th Fleet. It comes three months after it secured the maintenance contract for the USNS Cesar Chavez in January.
The USNS Richard E. Byrd measures 210 meters long, 32 meters wide and 9.4 meters high, and entered service in 2008. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will carry out precision maintenance on more than 100 items, including the hull and structures and the propulsion and electrical systems, starting this month and deliver the vessel in June.
Hanwha Ocean also appears to have secured two MRO contracts from the U.S. Navy this year. Working with maintenance firms in the Busan and South Gyeongsang regions, the company reportedly carried out work in Busan and Jinhae, respectively. Hanwha Ocean last year formed a "warship MRO cluster council" with 15 regional shipyards and maintenance firms.
Earlier, in Aug. 2024, Hanwha Ocean won the maintenance contract for the U.S. Navy's logistics support vessel Walli Schirra, marking the first entry by Korea's shipbuilding industry into the U.S. Navy MRO market.
Large shipbuilders have already secured as much U.S. MRO business this year as they did for all of last year. Last year's total wins were one for HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, two for Hanwha Ocean, and HJ Shipbuilding & Construction for small and midsize shipbuilders.