HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE), the intermediate holding company for HD Hyundai Group’s shipbuilding business, has once again met with the Indian government to discuss potential cooperation in the shipbuilding sector.
HD KSOE was invited to hold talks with India’s Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas following its recent promotion of the shipyard to India’s Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, which visited Korea, according to a Korean media report. “The talks were aimed at cooperating with India, which is ready to order large ships, to further promote order signing.”
According to India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Pankaj Jain, the ministry’s ministerial secretary (the equivalent of a permanent undersecretary in the Indian government system, which is responsible for the actual management of the ministry), met with HD KSOE’s executive team in New Delhi, India, on December 19th, local time.
HD KSOE presented its key shipbuilding technologies for very large tankers (VLCCs), liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, ethane carriers, and floating production storage and offloading units (FPSOs). The South Korea’s largest shipbuilder is said to have expressed interest in partnering with local companies including India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), India’s state-owned Petrochemicals and Natural Gas Corporation (GAIL) and India’s Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), etc.
According to the Korean media, India plans to expand its fleet size to 2,500 ships by adding 1,000 new ships in 10 years to reduce its dependence on foreign shipping companies. The current 28 Indian local shipbuilders (20 of which are private companies) are mainly to build small and medium-sized ships, lack of experience in the construction of large ships, and therefore seek cooperation with South Korea.
A little over a month ago, Sarbananda Sonowal, India’s Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, declared, “Considering that India has the wealth of talent and resources to become a shipbuilding powerhouse, we aim to be among the top 10 shipbuilders in the world by 2030 and are committed to being among the top five shipbuilders in the world by 2047. ”
This goal is “more pragmatic” than the one announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2023, when he declared on the sidelines of the Global Maritime India Summit 2023 that “in the next decade, India will become one of the top five shipbuilders and repairers in the world.”
India’s share of the global shipbuilding market is currently less than 1%.
Last month, a delegation led by T K Ramachandran, secretary of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, visited Hanwha Ocean, Samsung Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai to examine shipbuilding technologies. Immediately, the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas invited a delegation from HD KSOE to meet. According to South Korean media reports, it is expected that “the two sides will hold comprehensive discussions on the transfer of shipbuilding technology, localization and the construction of new ships.”
Korean media said that if HD KSOE successfully receives orders in India, it will continue to consolidate its “leading position” in the shipbuilding industry. So far this year, the company’s three shipyards (HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, HD Hyundai Mipo, HD Hyundai Samho) have undertaken orders for 181 ships with a total value of $20.56 billion, achieving 152.2% of the annual order target of $13.5 billion.