Hanwha Defense USA to Take Control of Philly Shipyard as Navy Shipbuilding Push Accelerates

Hanwha Defense USA is moving to take control of Hanwha Philly Shipyard, bringing the Philadelphia facility under its U.S. defense business as the South Korean conglomerate pushes to expand into American naval shipbuilding.

The company announced Tuesday that it will acquire a controlling 60% stake in the shipyard through an HDUSA-led joint venture, a restructuring intended to align Hanwha’s commercial and government shipbuilding operations under a single leadership structure.

The move does not represent a new acquisition by Hanwha Group, which purchased the former Philly Shipyard for $100 million in December 2024. Instead, it transfers control from Hanwha Systems, which currently holds 60% of the shipyard, to Hanwha Defense USA Shipbuilding LLC, a joint venture between HDUSA and Hanwha FutureProof. Hanwha Ocean will retain its 40% stake.

According to a September regulatory filing in South Korea, the transaction is valued at approximately $237.6 million, with completion planned for October 31.

Retired Rear Adm. Tom Anderson, president of U.S. shipbuilding at HDUSA, will oversee the company’s American shipbuilding operations.

“As Hanwha Defense USA continues to grow its multi-domain presence across the U.S., bringing the Philly Shipyard under HDUSA will further align our government and commercial shipbuilding efforts,” said Michael Coulter, president and CEO of Hanwha Defense USA. “We look forward to continuing to invest in our Philly Shipyard facilities and workforce in preparation for exciting work ahead.”

The restructuring is the latest step in a transformation that began years before Hanwha acquired the yard.

In 2019, Philly Shipyard faced an uncertain future after delivering the last of two containerships to Matson, leaving its commercial newbuilding orderbook empty. With no new construction contracts, the shipyard’s workforce had fallen from approximately 1,200 employees at the beginning of 2018 to just 80 by July 2019.

The yard turned to government work to survive, adopting what was then described as a strategy to “go gray.” Its first contracts involved maintenance and repair work on the Maritime Administration’s Ready Reserve Force ships FSS Antares and FSS Pollux, allowing it to recall some laid-off workers and put its drydocks back to use.

Those early contracts helped bridge the gap, but the real turning point came in April 2020, when Philly Shipyard was selected to construct the first two National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMVs) under a $630 million contract managed by TOTE Services. The program eventually expanded to five ships, providing the long-term production backlog needed to rebuild the workforce.

The yard continued pursuing government repair work, including a 2021 contract for the Military Sealift Command’s USNS Charlton.

Now, seven years after that initial shift toward government work, Hanwha is preparing to take the next step, positioning the facility to build vessels directly for the U.S. Navy.

In August 2025, Hanwha announced plans to invest $5 billion in the shipyard, including additional dry docks, expanded waterfront facilities and modernized production capabilities. The long-term goal is to increase annual production capacity to as many as 20 vessels.

Hanwha said in September that the shipyard’s workforce had more than doubled since its acquisition, reaching nearly 2,500 employees.

The yard now has a substantial commercial orderbook, including three LNG-powered containerships for Matson, two LNG carriers for Hanwha Shipping and four firm medium-range tanker orders, with options for six additional vessels.

It has also delivered four of five NSMVs for MARAD, with the fifth scheduled for delivery in 2027.

More recently, Hanwha secured another federal shipbuilding program. Earlier this month, TOTE Services finalized a contract with MARAD to manage construction of the first of a new generation of Missile Range Instrumentation Vessels for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, awarding the shipbuilding subcontract to Hanwha Philly Shipyard.

The first vessel, Golden Defender, is scheduled for delivery in 2030. The program builds on the existing NSMV production line, with the new missile-tracking vessels sharing approximately 70% design commonality with the training ships.

While that contract represents another step into defense-related shipbuilding, Hanwha’s larger ambition is to establish Philadelphia as a shipyard capable of constructing vessels directly for the U.S. Navy.

That effort received high-level attention in September when Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao toured the facility and met with Hanwha executives to discuss shipbuilding capacity, workforce development and future Navy requirements.

“Over the past two years Hanwha has made significant investments in the Philly Shipyard to contribute to the revitalization of the U.S. shipbuilding industry,” Anderson said.

“Now we are positioning the shipyard to transition to dual-use, aligning shipyard operations, workforce, and customer relations in preparation to build for the U.S. Navy, other federal agencies, and commercial customers.”

For a shipyard that was struggling to find work just seven years ago, the announcement marks another milestone in its transformation from a commercial shipbuilder into a potential supplier for the U.S. defense industrial base.

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