HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the shipbuilding subsidiary of HD Hyundai Group, South Korea’s largest shipbuilding conglomerate, has announced that it will spin off its shipbuilding and offshore engineering divisions and establish a new offshore energy business division.
Recently, HHI submitted a reorganization plan through an internal official letter to split the existing Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering Division into the Shipbuilding Division and the Offshore Energy Business Division. The split offshore energy business unit is set to be established on May 1st.
HHI currently has three business divisions, namely Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Specialty Shipbuilding and Engine Machinery, and the reorganization aims to improve the competitiveness of the renewable energy business, according to the company. After the completion of the spin-off of the Shipbuilding & Offshore division, the Shipbuilding division will be responsible for the existing merchant shipbuilding business; the Offshore Engineering business division will be responsible for the offshore plant and renewable energy business.
Currently, HHI’ Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Division is in charge of shipbuilding business, including various types of ships ranging from general merchant ships to special ships. There is said to have been a consensus within the company that the offshore engineering division, which is responsible for offshore plant projects such as floating production units, and the renewable energy division, which is responsible for offshore wind projects, should run as separate organisations.
The industry expects that HHI’s move will help promote the further development of HD Hyundai Group’s renewable energy business. During its annual general meeting held on March 29 this year, HD Hyundai Group announced that it will incorporate “new energy and renewable energy development, operation, trading, supply, power generation, equipment leasing and other new energy and renewable energy-related businesses” in to its operating business and strengthen its competitiveness by diversifying its business portfolio including energy, construction machinery and artificial intelligence (AI).
In the offshore wind sector, offshore wind developer BadaEnergy announced last November that it had selected HHI as the preferred bidder for the EPC general contracting of the Ulsan Gray Whale 3 floating offshore wind project in South Korea. Recently, HHI also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Scottish Enterprise (SE) and Highland & Island Enterprise (HIE) of Edinburgh, Scotland, to collaborate on the Scottish floating offshore wind project.