Busan City's 8 Trillion Won Investment First Winner?… Hanwha Ocean Launches 'Shipbuilding Industry Engineering Center'

Signing of MOU for Establishment and Investment in Busan Engineering Center
Attended by Mayor Park Hyungjun and Hanwha Ocean CEO Kim Heechul
Investment of 10 billion won in a 400-pyeong facility in Jung-gu, 500 new hires

Who is the first investor in the 8 trillion won investment attraction project promoted by Busan City?

The company that opened the first salvo in Busan City's (Mayor Park Hyung-jun) company-wide investment attraction activities is Hanwha Ocean.

On the 22nd at 2 p.m., Busan City announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Hanwha Ocean Co., Ltd., a leading domestic shipbuilding and marine conglomerate, for the establishment of the Busan Engineering Center (BEC) at City Hall. Mayor Park Hyung-jun and Hanwha Ocean CEO Kim Hee-chul attended the signing ceremony and personally signed the MOU.

Since the acquisition of the former Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering by Hanwha Group in 2023, Hanwha Ocean has achieved rapid improvement in business performance and management stabilization, successfully turning a profit after 11 consecutive quarters last year.

In response to the increasing orders for special vessels such as submarines and military supply ships due to the ‘K-Defense’ effect and the expansion of offshore plant orders, the company plans to swiftly proceed with the construction of the Busan Engineering Center and large-scale new recruitment.

Under this agreement, Hanwha Ocean will establish the Busan Engineering Center in Busan, adjacent to the Geoje shipyard and where it is easy to secure specialized technical talent in the shipbuilding and marine fields. It plans to invest about 10 billion won to build a facility with a total floor area of 400 pyeong in Jung-gu, Busan, and aims to newly employ about 500 design personnel in special vessels and marine sectors by 2027.

Through this investment, Hanwha Ocean plans to strategically allocate ship design personnel, including the special vessel and marine divisions, separately from the current Siheung Research and Development (R&D) Campus, to lead the future ship market and secure sustainable global competitiveness, growing into a top-tier company in the shipbuilding, marine, and defense sectors.

While R&D centers of domestic large corporations are concentrated in the metropolitan area to secure young skilled talent, the attraction of Hanwha Ocean’s engineering center to Busan, following the R&D centers of Samsung Heavy Industries and Hanwha Power Systems, is also a noteworthy achievement in terms of regional balanced development.

Busan City plans to expand the attraction of knowledge service companies concentrated in the metropolitan area based on the specialized technical personnel produced annually by 22 universities in the Busan area, including Pusan National University, and better living conditions compared to other regions, thereby creating good jobs preferred by local youth.

Kim Hee-chul, CEO of Hanwha Ocean, said, “We are very pleased to establish the Hanwha Ocean Busan Engineering Center together with Busan City to leap forward as a ‘Global Ocean Solution Provider.’ We plan to enhance business competitiveness by hiring talent from the Busan and Gyeongnam regions.”

Mayor Park Hyung-jun of Busan said, “Leading domestic shipbuilding companies are gathering in Busan one after another,” adding, “With Hanwha Ocean’s investment, we expect it to greatly contribute to strengthening the local shipbuilding industry ecosystem, preventing the outflow of local youth and skilled personnel to the metropolitan area, and realizing a virtuous cycle of job creation concentrated in Busan.”

Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun (left) and Hanwha Ocean CEO Kim Hee-chul are signing a memorandum of understanding for investment in the Busan Engineering Center on the 22nd.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.