HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has introduced a new production method that splits one vessel between two shipyards before the hull sections are joined, in what the source described as a first for South Korea’s shipbuilding industry.
The approach was demonstrated at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Ulsan yard with a 157,000 dwt Suezmax tanker. The vessel was formed by joining two hull sections of more than 100 m each. The 168 m bow section was built by HSG Sungdong Shipbuilding at Tongyeong in South Gyeongsang Province. It was then towed 120 km over 17 hours by three vessels to Ulsan, where it was joined to a 102 m stern section built in-house by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries.
At Ulsan, workers aligned the two sections with large cranes, fitted external steel plates, drained the dock, and connected the internal reinforcements. Piping and wiring work is due to continue until mid-month. Delivery to the owner is scheduled for July.
The so-called half-ship project is intended to make better use of dock space. By building only the stern section, which includes the engine room and has higher technical complexity, at its own yard, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries can use the remaining dock capacity to pre-assemble blocks for other ships at the same time. The bow section, which requires more labor and space but less engineering complexity, was assigned to HSG Sungdong Shipbuilding.
For HSG Sungdong Shipbuilding, the project adds vessel construction work after several years of restructuring. The yard entered court receivership in 2018 after financial difficulties and was acquired by HSG Heavy Industries in late 2019. The source said the yard had mainly operated as a block builder before taking vessel construction orders from larger nearby shipyards last year.
Between 2004 and 2017, the former Sungdong Shipbuilding delivered more than 250 vessels, including capesize bulkers and MR tankers. To support the new project, HD Hyundai formed a dedicated task force in March last year to redesign yard workflows, as splitting construction between two facilities required a different sequence from conventional single-dock shipbuilding.
The source also said pressure to raise effective capacity has increased as South Korea’s major shipbuilders manage larger backlogs. The combined orderbook of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Hanwha Ocean, and Samsung Heavy Industries rose from $86.5 billion in 2021 to $139.2 billion by the end of last year. Samsung Heavy Industries has taken a different approach by outsourcing complete vessels, including four crude oil carriers, to HSG Sungdong Shipbuilding. In February, HJ Shipbuilding & Construction also outsourced deckhouse residential blocks for eight containerships to Daesun Shipbuilding.
