"The panels we are making now will go on the exterior walls of a substation. Once we build up a certain volume, we pack them and ship directly to Indonesia. The plant is not large, but we simplified the process to boost production efficiency. Starting next month, we plan to develop the site we use as a yard and expand our equipment."Vice President Jin Il-seong of Maeil Marine
On the 23rd at 17 Haeyang-ro, Yeongdo-gu, Busan. Sparks from welding flew nonstop amid the noise of cutters inside the panel fabrication building. Large steel plates hung from cranes moved overhead, and workers continued assembly, aligning the structures. This scene clearly shows the present of Maeil Marine, which has grown for about 30 years based on the ship supplies business in this area, considered the center of Korea's shipbuilding and shipping industries.
Maeil Marine, which began in 1995 with a ship supplies business, is recently attempting a shift into a marine-based composite industry by expanding its business scope to manufacturing, offshore wind, defense, and nuclear power.
◇Building manufacturing capability on a ship-supplies procurement base
Maeil Marine's core competitiveness lies in its procurement and logistics response system centered on its Busan headquarters. The company secures thousands of ship supplies on a rolling basis through direct transactions with domestic and overseas producers, and operates an integrated logistics system that covers purchasing, storage, and packing, centered on four dedicated warehouses at its Busan headquarters.
A just-in-time supply system aligned with vessel schedules (ETA/ETD) is also a strength. Given the nature of ship operations, the company maintains an operating structure capable of 24-hour response, including urgent materials and provisions. It currently maintains transaction relationships with about 100 shipping companies and ship managers at home and abroad, and also responds to requests from shipping agents handling foreign vessels calling at Korean ports.
The change in Maeil Marine's business structure gained momentum after it acquired Sehwa Machinery in 2018. Sehwa Machinery produces core rotating and power transmission parts for marine engines, such as turbocharger casings and crosshead pins. These parts fall into the precision machining domain that determines the stability and efficiency of large diesel engines.
Sehwa Machinery succeeded in localizing rotor shafts and secured in-house design and production capability for supply units, a key component of fuel delivery. It currently maintains partnerships with major domestic and overseas engine manufacturers, including Hyundai Heavy Industries, HSD Engine, Hanwha Power Systems, STX Heavy Industries, and Burckhardt of Switzerland.
◇Securing a plant fabrication base…expansion into offshore wind and the global supply chain
In 2020, Maeil Marine merged SAS as its plant division, securing fabrication capability for shipbuilding and onshore/offshore power plants. SAS was a corporations that held the No. 1 domestic market share in cell machining technology.
The SAS merger led to participation in various industrial equipment fabrication projects, such as fabricating vessels for semiconductor cleaning equipment, fabricating dust collectors for the Samcheok thermal power plant, and supplying steel structures for POSCO Plant Engineering & Construction's Gwangyang No. 4 blast furnace. Chemical equipment such as heat exchangers and reactors, and fabrication of power-generation condensers were also included in the business scope during this period.
This expansion of the manufacturing base led to participation in offshore wind plant projects. Maeil Marine is currently taking part in fabrication of some panels for the "TenneT 2GW Program" together with TenneT, McDermott, and Sangsangin Ship Machinery. It is a large offshore power grid construction project connecting Germany and the Netherlands.
Last year, it acquired Samyang Tongsang, expanding its business scope into the supply of ship chemicals. Samyang Tongsang had maintained a partnership with the Korea subsidiary of Wilhelmsen Group, a Norway-based global shipping services corporations. Through this acquisition, Maeil Marine secured partner status for chemical supply to Wilhelmsen Group.
Wilhelmsen is a ship services corporations operating a network of more than 2,000 ports worldwide, and securing a partnership with it is meaningful in terms of expanding the Northeast Asia shipping services supply chain.
◇Materials affiliate Maeil Cerachem as the axis of the integrated "materials, fabrication, procurement" strategy
The mid- to long-term strategic axis for Maeil Marine is its materials affiliate, Maeil Cerachem.
Maeil Cerachem recently developed a lightweight composite material with ballistic, thermal insulation, noncombustible, and soundproofing properties. According to the company, the material reduces thickness and weight compared with existing products while achieving ballistic performance at U.S. National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Level III, and it maintains fire resistance for a certain period even in high-temperature environments of about 1,100 degrees.
With the addition of electromagnetic shielding and radiation-shielding coating technologies, the material is being discussed for potential applications across various fields. Electromagnetic shielding structures for critical national security facilities and protective equipment for nuclear and power plants are cited as representative uses. Chief Executive Kim Myeong-jin of Maeil Marine said, "Maeil Cerachem is considering a listing," and noted, "We are also reviewing the possibility of attracting overseas capital."
Industry watchers view Maeil Marine as gradually building a structure that unifies capabilities in materials, fabrication, and procurement. If such a system takes hold, observers say it could expand the company's response range from design to fabrication and delivery in shipbuilding, defense, and energy equipment.
Maeil Marine's transition in business structure is partly reflected in its recent performance trend. On a consolidation basis, sales hovered around 40 billion won over the past five years before recording about 39.3 billion won last year. Operating profit has swung between gains and losses over the same period, showing continued volatility.
Kim said, "We aim to achieve 100 billion won in sales within the year."