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Korea invests $179 million in shipbuilding eyeing eco-friendly boats, welding robots

Published: 11 Feb. 2025, 16:16

LEE JAE-LIM
[email protected]

A bird's-eye view of Hanwha Ocean's liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier [HANWHA OCEAN]

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will invest 260 billion won ($179 million) in research and development (R&D) for the shipbuilding industry this year, marking a 40 percent increase from last year, to strengthen competitiveness in environmentally friendly ships and advanced smart technologies.

The Trade Ministry said on Tuesday that 170 billion won is allocated to developing environmentally friendly vessels, 70 billion won to advancing the digital transformation of shipbuilding, and 20 billion won to autonomous ships and related technology.

In the environmentally friendly sector, the development of ammonia-powered ships, which produce zero greenhouse emissions, is a key focus, identified as next-generation vessels following liquefied natural gas carriers. The ministry aims to develop equipment such as ammonia fuel injection, leakage detection and management and exhaust gas treatment systems.

Moreover, the ministry will support a project to construct a 23,000-cubic-meter (812,237-cubic-foot) ammonia bunkering ship, a vessel exclusively powered by ammonia, with applications open until March 20.

The government also plans to introduce new support initiatives for core equipment for medium-to-large electric propulsion ships, wind-assisted propulsion systems and onboard carbon capture and handling technologies.

As an industry which highly relies on manual labor, the government plans to boost the digital transformation of shipbuilding processes to enhance shipyard productivity, such as high-speed laser-cutting systems, autonomous mobile welding robots for ship interiors and collaborative robots for welding thick steel plates.

Digital platforms to manage productivity will also be developed for the shipyards’ partners.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]