[CAPTIONS] Officials including Kim Jung-kwan (from left), Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy; Lee Jun-hyuk, Executive Vice President and Head of Industrial Plant Division at HD Hyundai Samho; Kim Shin, Executive Vice President and Head of Americas Region at HMM; Zachary Thomas, Chief Operating Officer at WUT; and Howard Lutnick, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, pose for a photo at the signing ceremony for the supply contract of four port cranes. Photo courtesy of HD Hyundai Samho - Seoul Economic Daily Finance News from South Korea[CAPTIONS]
Officials including Kim Jung-kwan (from left), Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy; Lee Jun-hyuk, Executive Vice President and Head of Industrial Plant Division at HD Hyundai Samho; Kim Shin, Executive Vice President and Head of Americas Region at HMM; Zachary Thomas, Chief Operating Officer at WUT; and Howard Lutnick, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, pose for a photo at the signing ceremony for the supply contract of four port cranes. Photo courtesy of HD Hyundai Samho

HD Hyundai (267250.KS) Samho has expanded its U.S. port crane business cooperation, accelerating the “MASGA” (Make American Shipbuilding Great Again) project for Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation.

HD Hyundai said on the 26th that it recently signed a contract to supply four port cranes to Washington United Terminals (WUT). The contract was pursued as part of a terminal modernization project to replace aging cranes at WUT, HMM’s U.S. affiliate, and to expand the capacity to accommodate large container ships.

WUT currently operates a total of eight quay cranes at the Port of Tacoma in Washington state, of which four were supplied by HD Hyundai Samho in 1999. This project involves replacing two aging quay cranes among them with new equipment and adding two new yard cranes.

HD Hyundai Samho will carry out the entire process—design, manufacturing, transportation, installation and test operation—of the two quay cranes and two yard cranes on a turnkey basis, with all deliveries scheduled by 2028. The cranes will use high-quality steel produced by POSCO, and the project is expected to contribute to strengthening Korea’s key industry capabilities, as it brings together the technological capabilities of major domestic industries including shipbuilding, ports and steel.

Amid growing emphasis on port supply chain stability and security led by the U.S. government and industry, this order is expected to further solidify HD Hyundai Samho’s business foundation in the United States. HD Hyundai Samho has supplied a total of 20 port cranes to major U.S. ports since 1985.

“The Tacoma Port crane order is a meaningful achievement in which our technological prowess and quality competitiveness, accumulated through various projects at home and abroad, have been recognized externally,” an HD Hyundai Samho official said. “We will successfully support the MASGA project through the development of eco-friendly, high-efficiency port equipment going forward.”

Meanwhile, HD Hyundai Chairman Chung Ki-sun met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in May last year to discuss ways to cooperate on the shipbuilding industry between Korea and the U.S., where he introduced HD Hyundai Samho’s crane manufacturing capabilities and proposed mutual cooperation measures.