HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is strengthening cooperation with Canadian shipyards as it pursues the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project, or CPSP, in a joint “one team” bid with Hanwha Ocean. The program is valued at up to 60 trillion won.
The company said its executives visited Davie Shipbuilding’s Ottawa office on 26 May local time to discuss strategic cooperation across shipbuilding and naval programs. At the meeting, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries presented its shipbuilding technology and the strengths of K-submarines, while exchanging views on cooperation to support Canada’s shipbuilding industry.
Davie Shipbuilding, based in Quebec, is Canada’s largest shipyard and has built a range of vessels, including icebreakers, offshore plants and naval support ships. The company also owns Helsinki Shipyard in Finland. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries said a combination of its technology and Davie Shipbuilding’s local infrastructure could develop into a long-term strategic partnership covering the Arctic market.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries also promoted K-submarine capabilities at Esquimalt Naval Base in Victoria, British Columbia, on 23 May. President Joo Won-ho and other executives attended the welcome ceremony for the arrival of the Dosan Ahn Changho class KSS-III submarine and a reception hosted by the ambassador to Canada, as the bidding race moved into its final stage.
Joo said the company is working with Canada’s representative shipyards, including Davie Shipbuilding and Irving Shipbuilding, to share capabilities and expand business areas in shipbuilding and naval programs. He said HD Hyundai Heavy Industries would make every effort to help the K-defense “one team” win the Canadian submarine program and lead shipbuilding cooperation with Canada.
As part of offset trade linked to the submarine bid, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries prepared a January plan led by HD Hyundai Oilbank in the energy sector to import crude oil worth several trillion won from a Canadian oil company. In shipbuilding, the company proposed cooperation worth several trillion won, including the transfer of merchant and naval vessel construction know-how to local shipyards and comprehensive consulting for submarine operations and maintenance.
