사진 확대 (Hanwha Ocean)
At the far edge of a sprawling shipyard run by South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean Co. in South Gyeongsang Province’s Geoje, nestled behind layers of security lies a place rarely seen by outsiders. Here, a quiet revolution in naval cooperation is unfolding in a tightly controlled section known simply as the “special shipyard.” And at the heart of it is a 31-year-old American fuel supply ship, the USNS Yukon.
After signing multiple security agreements, a small group of staff from Maeil Business Newspaper was granted limited access to the highly restricted site on April 21st, 2025. Even then, the group was stopped at the foot of the stairs leading to the vessel’s stern deck. As a U.S. Navy asset, that deck is considered U.S. territory under international law.
Just meters away, a scene emblematic of deepening U.S.- Korea defense ties was playing out: Korean engineers from Hanwha Ocean and civilian personnel from the U.S. Navy crowded over the Yukon’s blueprints, poring over the ever-growing list of repairs.
사진 확대 (Hanwha Ocean)
“We identified around 80 maintenance items when the ship arrived, and that number has now ballooned to 350 or more,” Park Jung-hoon, head of the special ship MRO TF at Hanwha Ocean, said. “We are still aiming to return it to the U.S. Navy by the end of May 2025, but the scope keeps expanding.”
The USNS Yukon is the second U.S. Navy ship Hanwha Ocean has taken on as part of its maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) contract – marking a turning point in how the United States addresses chronic issues plaguing its shipbuilding industry: labor shortages, outdated infrastructure, and supply chain disruptions.
One man who knows these challenges well is Volodymyr Borovets, a senior inspector from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) who has lived in Korea since 2023 with his family. “It is not easy to maintain high quality while increasing speed,” he said in a rare media interview. “But Korea has achieved that balance. It is impressive.”
That sentiment is echoed far beyond the shipyard.
“A repair job that normally takes months back home, Korea completed in just three days,” a high-ranking admiral reportedly said at a recent meeting in Hawaii attended by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command leaders. Such stories underscore what defense experts and maritime insiders have known for years: Korea’s shipbuilding industry, forged through decades of fierce global competition, is now the world’s most efficient and technologically advanced.
According to Clarkson Research, Korean shipbuilders won 55 percent of global ship orders in March 2025, leaving China a distant second at 35 percent. While China mostly handles orders from its territory, Korea dominates high-spec, high-stakes international contracts, particularly from European defense clients.
That dominance rests on a uniquely stable ecosystem. Unlike other industries that are increasingly becoming automated, shipbuilding remains a craft. Subcontractors, clustered near the yards, deliver precise, cost-effective work and skilled labor is indispensable. Around 10,000 engineers are devoted to ship design alone.
“Shipbuilding is not just manufacturing; it is orchestration,” an executive from the shipbuilding industry who requested anonymity said. “From design to delivery, one needs engineers, suppliers, welders, and planners who all have to work in sync. Korea has been doing that for decades,” he said.
By Ahn Doo-won and Han Yubin
[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]