HJ Shipbuilding & Construction has received a request for additional maintenance work on the 40,000 t logistics support ship USNS Amelia Earhart at its Yeongdo yard in Busan, after U.S. Navy officials reviewed the ongoing programme.
The company said on the 13th that the delegation visited the shipyard the previous day and checked both the MRO progress and the yard’s equipment. Six officials attended the visit, including Jim Goodhart, deputy director of the Ship Management Directorate at the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command, along with a Navy inspector. The company said the visitors spoke positively about the yard’s maintenance capability.
HJ Shipbuilding & Construction explained that the added work covers newly identified needs that were not part of the initial contract or that fall beyond the original scope. It said the U.S. Navy approved the extra items and the yard is moving ahead with those tasks as part of the programme.
The shipbuilder added that the work package also includes correcting functional defects or vessel flaws that had not been detected by the client, reflecting those findings during the maintenance period.
HJ Shipbuilding & Construction won the MRO project for USNS Amelia Earhart—assigned to the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command—in December last year, and began full-scale maintenance on the 12th of last month.
Chief Executive Yoo Sang-cheol said the company is tightening process and quality control to meet the U.S. Navy’s MRO requirements and standards. He added that the company will concentrate on meeting deadlines and delivering a high-quality vessel, aiming to use the project as a base for building trust with the U.S. Navy.
