Hyundai Mipo Shipbuilding and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, the shipbuilding subsidiaries of HD Hyundai Group, the largest shipbuilding group in South Korea, were renamed as “HD Hyundai Mipo” and “HD Hyundai Samho” respectively to enhance their brand value and share the corporate image of HD Hyundai Group, and formally started a new journey.
On March 25th, HD Hyundai Mipo held its 50th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders at its head office in Ulsan, and passed a motion to change the company’s name from “Hyundai Mipo Shipbuilding Co. Ltd.” to “HD Hyundai Mipo Co. Ltd.” and other amendments to the Articles of Incorporation. The meeting also approved the approval of the financial statements, approval of the partial amendment of the Articles of Incorporation, appointment of internal directors, approval of the limit of remuneration for directors and reappointment of Cho Jin-ho, the head of the financial support department of HD Hyundai, whose term of office had expired, as an internal director.
The name change helps HD Hyundai strengthen its identity, and the “HD HYUNDAI” logo is consistent with the vision and identity of the parent company, reflecting its mission of ” Achieving Human Dreams through Human Dynamics”. By deleting the word “shipbuilding” from the former “Hyundai Mipo Shipbuilding,” HD Hyundai Mipo said it is demonstrating its vision of moving away from its traditional manufacturing base and expanding into a future-oriented engineering-centered business to adapt to the changing industrial environment, such as decarbonization and digitization.
It is understood that Hyundai Mipo Shipbuilding was established on April 28, 1975, initially named “Hyundai Mipo Shipyard (Hyundai Mipo Shipyard)”, with a registered capital of 1.2 billion won. In February 1994, Hyundai Mipo Shipyard changed its name to Hyundai Mipo Shipbuilding and shifted to the newbuilding business, which has been in use ever since. HD Hyundai Mipo, which changed its name after 30 years, aims to become an innovative company in the field of marine mobility in addition to shipbuilding.
In particular, HD Hyundai Mipo plans to aggressively promote Digital Manufacturing, a revolutionary transformation of production processes and procedures through the integration of data from design to production. It plans to further accelerate the R&D process for next-generation ships to achieve carbon neutrality, including electric ships, ammonia-powered ships, liquefied carbon dioxide carriers, and liquefied hydrogen carriers.
On the same day (March 25), HD Hyundai Samho held its 26th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders and voted to change the company’s name from “Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries CO.LTD” to “HD Hyundai Samho CO.LTD.” Since December 2022, when the former Hyundai Heavy Industries Group officially changed its name to “HD Hyundai,” the new name has been finalized after a lengthy review of the company’s name change, which included external consultation and an internal public offering.
In 2002, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group (now renamed HD Hyundai Group) officially took over the management of Samho Heavy Industries, which had been managed by Hyundai Heavy Industries (now renamed HD Hyundai Heavy Industries) since 1999, and changed its name to Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries the following year. This was the second time that Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries changed its name after 21 years.
HD Hyundai Samho is now actively exploring and discovering new businesses to prepare for the future market of shipbuilding, which is facing constraints due to the accelerated catch-up by Chinese shipbuilders. It is also responding to increasing cost competition and labor shortages through continuous innovation efforts such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and digital transformation.
Shin Hyundai, CEO of HD Hyundai Samho, said, ” Our company will return to its entrepreneurial spirit starting with this name change to build a history of innovation and creativity that blends technology, environment and digital, laying the foundation for a 100-year company.”
On the day of the shareholders’ meeting, HD Hyundai Samho also considered and approved the 26th financial statement and the appointment of directors and auditors. According to the financial statements, HD Hyundai Samho realized an operating revenue of 5.987 trillion won (about $4.484 billion) and an operating profit of 301.7 billion won (about $226 million) 2023, making it the best shipbuilder in South Korea in terms of business performance last year.